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The Pastime Series, — Issued monthly. By subscription, $3.00 per annum. No. 107. June, 1893, 

Entered at Chicago P. O. as second-class matter. 


THE ARMORER 


OF TYRE 


By SYLVfUNUS COBB, JR. 


LAIRD 


Chicago 

& LEE, Publishers 

1893 





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Discovery of the Fugitives. — page 128 



THE 

ARMORER OF TYRE 

BY 

Y-L' /.■' . v 

SYLVANUS COBB, Jr. 

n 

Author of “The Gunmaker of Moscow,” “Red Hand,” etc. 


ILLUSTRATED 


COPYRIGHT, 1893, by LAIRD & LEE 



Chicago 

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THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


CHAPTER I. 

THE ARMORER, AND THE PRINCE. 

T AKE we now our readers to ancient Island Tyre, the 
home of merchant princes — so long the “ Queen of 
the Sea,” and the depot of wealth, power, and splendor. 
The small island upon which it stood contained the bone 
and sinew that oft and again resisted the myriad hosts of 
ambitious conquerors. The first city of Tyre had been built 
upon the coast of Phoenicia; but when it was besieged by 
Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, the inhabitants, after 
withstanding a siege of thirteen years, removed to the small 
island opposite, where they built the new city, which soon 
rivalled the former in magnificence. In process of time, 
however, the island was connected with the main land, 
and the peninsula thus formed is its geographical position 
at the present time. 

Here it was, upon this island, that the great Alexander, 
with his mighty avalanche of Macedonian steel, was stayed 
for over half a year in his blood-stained course. Its build- 
ings, towering even higher toward heaven than those of 
Rome — its temples and its colossal statues of brass and 
Parian marble, its extensive bazaars, glittering with the 


0 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


untold riches of the East, and scented by the rarest spices 
of Arabia, its harbors filled with ships, all, all speak to us of 
a grandeur rarely excelled in the annals of the world. 

Mapen sat upon the throne of Tyre. He had assisted the 
weak-brained, haughty Xerxes in his magnificent failure in 
Greece, and he had returned to his sea-girt city with a 
morose and jealous disposition, which, added to the tyranny 
he had ever exercised, made him generally detested by his 
subjects; but yet he felt his throne firm beneath him, for 
the wealth of the city was in his interests. 

It was late in the afternoon. Hear the northern wall of 
the city stood a rough, yet stout dwelling, the front apart- 
ment of which was occupied as the workshop of an artisan. 
Within said apartment were a forge and anvils, together 
with the numerous other appurtenances and fixtures neces- 
sary for the working of various metals. Within the fire that 
burned upon the forge lay a large plate of iron, and near by, 
with his arms folded across his breast, stood a middle-aged 
man engaged in watching the heated metal, while a small 
boy was working the rudely constructed bellows that gave 
force to the heat. 

The man was large in stature, stout and powerful in his 
build, with his arms, neck and breast fairly worked into 
ridges by the iron muscles that dwelt and labored there. 
His neck was short and thick, and his head was covered by 
a mass of short, curly, black hair. His dress was simple in 
the extreme, consisting of a sort of linen swathing passed 
several times about his loins and th.e lower part of his 
breast, and then over the left shoulder, thus leaving his right 
shoulder and arm and the upper part of his breast entirely 
bare. Erom this depended a short woollen skirt, reaching to 
the knees, beneath which appeared a pair of goat-skin tights 
and sandals. 

Such was Gio, the Armorer of Tyre. That he was not a 
Tyrian by birth, his very appearance would at once indicate; 
but whence he came none knew. Yet none more than he 
possessed the love of the people, nor was there a man in 


Gio preventing the search for Marina. — page 9 






THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


7 


the city who would have been more missed. Humble artisan 
as he was, the nobles depended upon him for their best 
weapons, and no one ever passed his shop, when he was at 
work, without bestowing upon him more than ordinary 
interest. Some people whispered strange stories about the 
stout armorer, and a few even went so far as to say that he 
had superhuman power bestowed upon him by Hercules; 
but such tales and whisperings were vague and dreamy, 
though, perhaps, in some instances, if we consider the super- 
stition of the times, they were not without foundation. 

The artisan, however, took little notice of these things, 
but with a purpose that lay deep within his own bosom he 
followed steadily on in the path he had chosen, paying no 
attention to what did not concern him. 

Gio watched the iron with a practiced eye, and at length 
he drew it forth, and laying it upon a slightly concave anvil 
he began to fashion it into a breastplate. His blows fell 
quick and heavy, and ere long it fitted the wooden model 
that lay by his side. A bright smile passed over his open 
countenance as he saw how well he had calculated upon the 
capacity of the heat to which he had subjected his metal, 
and turning to his boy, he said, as he laid the plate upon a 
bench: — 

“ There, Abal, let the fire go out for to-night, and prepare 
this plate for the polish. ” 

“ Whose is it, sir ? ” asked the boy, as he let go the brake 
of the bellows and stepped forward. 

“ ’Tis for Strato.” 

u The young merchant? ” 

“ Yes.” 

“ So I thought.” 

“ Then why did you ask ? ” returned Gio, who seemed by 
his manner to allow his boy unbounded liberty. 

“ Because I thought ’twas strange he should want one.” 

“ All honest men in Tyre may need them ere long.” 

“ I see not why.” 

“ Then wait for experience. That is the surest teacher.” 


8 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


Gio spoke this last remark in a sort of gruff tone, and 
Abal turned to the work to which he had been appointed. 
Twice he seemed upon the point of asking another question, 
but the stem frown that had settled down upon the brow 
of the stout armorer kept him silent. The boy, however, 
did not go on with his work; for hardly had he turned to do 
so, when both he and his master were startled by the sudden 
entrance of a fleeing girl. Her long hair was floating over 
her shoulders, her dress was dusty and disordered, and her 
features were pale with terror. 

“ Oh! ” she uttered, as she clasped her hands in agony, 
“ save me, sir! Whoever you be, save me! ” 

“How? From whom?” asked Gio, seeming struck, not 
only by the suddenness of the affair, but also by the remark- 
able beauty of the applicant. 

“ From my enemies! ” 

“ And can one like you have enemies in our good city of 
Tyre ? ” uttered the armorer, lying his broad palm upon 
the brow of the girl. 

“ Yes. Oh, speak not further, but hide me! ” cried she, 
as she cast her eyes fearfully behind her. “ I am an innocent 
girl— indeed I am. Save me from the murderer of my 
father! ” 

“ Who is he — thy father ? ” 

“He was Kison Ludim.” 

“How, by the great god Hercules!” shouted Gio, “I 
know who thou art, and who it is that seeks thee. Here, 
Abal, lead the lady to my daughter’s chamber. Quick! ” 

The boy opened a small door that led out from the back 
of the shop, and as the girl darted through he closed and 
bolted it behind him, and in a moment more their steps were 
heard upon the stone staircase beyond. 

Gio smote his bronzed fist upon his breast, and a half 
uttered curse rested upon his lips, while the frown that had 
beclouded his face upon the speech of his boy now grew to 
a fearful blackness. Half a dozen steps had he taken 
towards the front of the shop, when the clatter of feet upon 


THE ARMORER OP TYRE. 


9 


the pavement struck upon his ear, and ere many moments 
half a dozen men, headed by Prince Phalis, the son of the 
king, entered. 

“ Did not a female enter here a few moments since ? ” 
hastily asked Phalis, almost out of breath. 

“ My daughter, prince,” returned Gio. 

“ Beshrew thy daughter. ’Tis another I seek, and she 
entered here.” 

“ None that you can have occasion for. All beneath my 
roof are such as belong here.” 

“ Now out upon thee, canting slave!” cried the exas- 
perated prince. “ Where are thy chambers ? ” 

“ They are beyond thy reach,” returned the armorer, and 
his eyes flashed as he spoke. “ I am a citizen of Tyre, and 
my chambers are sacred.” 

“ Dost know who I am ? ” 

“ Ay; a son of him whom we call king.” 

“ Then pass me to your inner dwelling, for search your 
house I will.” 

“ You cannot.” 

“Now, by thy gods, no man dare beard me thus. Ha! 
boy, whence comest thou ? ” 

“ Prom my room,” answered Abal, who had at that mo- 
ment entered, and who deliberately closed the door behind 
him. 

“ And what left you behind ? ” 

“My master’s household,” quickly answered Abal, not at 
all moved by the savage manner of the prince. 

“ The old viper and the young,” ground out Phalis, 
between his clenched teeth. “ Follow me, my men, and ere 
we leave the place we’ll pull it down about their ears but we 
find the girl, for death be my master if I did not see her 
enter here. Come on.” 

“ Back! ” thundered Gio, as he caught a ponderous sledge 
that stood against his anvil and raised it above his head. 
“ Back, I say. The king may come and search, and so may 
those officers who are justly authorized; but even though you 


10 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


be a prince, and the son of our king, yet you pass not by 
force to the sanctuary of my home. Back I ” 

“ Hear the slave talk,” cried the prince; and yet he 
quailed before that uplifted weapon. “ I am an officer, and 
second only to the king. Let me pass, or our swords shall 
find homes in your heart I ” 

The armorer smiled a dark, grim smile, but he spoke not, 
nor did he move. 

“ Yile reptile, let me pass,” exclaimed the prince again, 
pointing his sword before him, and advancing a step. “ Dare 
to strike, and ere the sun shall rise on to-morrow, your head 
shall leave your body.” 

“ And who shall do it ? ” 

“The executioner.” 

“ By whose authority ? ” 
u The king’s.” 

“ Beware! ” uttered Gio, with a strange emphasis. “ Look 
to it, my prince, that you drag not your father into broils 
with the people. Strange scenes may follow if you do. 
How tell me whom you seek ? ” 

“ One who hath — But I’ll hold no converse further with 
thee. Back yourself, dog, or die I Theodoric, strike the 
babbler down! ” 

It was a stout soldier whom the prince thus addressed, 
and one who held some favor with the king. Gio knew it, 
but yet he shrank not as the man came nearer. 

“ Theodoric, beware! ” fell from the armorer’s lips as the 
soldier approached. 

“ Beware yourself,” returned the hot-headed soldier; and 
as he spoke he sprang madly forward and made a furious 
lunge at the stout armorer. 

The dark eyes of Gio flashed a single spark, and then his 
sledge descended upon the steel cap of his opponent. The 
bright metal sank beneath the blow, and the stout soldier 
fell without a groan. He was dead! Prince Phalis gazed 
for a moment upon the fallen man — a slight tremor moved 
his frame, and a pallor overspread his features. 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


“ Prince,” said Gio, in a deep, meaning tone, “ that blow 
was for the defence of my home. If needs be, I can strike 
another.” 

“ By all the powers of Pluto,” exclaimed Phalis, as he 
shook his bright sword above his head, “ thy death shall 
follow this. On now, my men, and run him through. I 
will be the first.” 

The armorer started back, and again he swung his ponder- 
ous weapon for its death stroke. The soldiers quailed, and 
the prince himself dared not advance. 

“ See, royal prince— -the rabble are collecting about my 
door,” uttered Gio. “ If you be wise you will order your 
men to take this body upon their shoulders and bear him off. 
Beware how you trample upon the rights of the people.” 

“ Come, come, prince,” urged one of the soldiers, as he 
plucked Phalis by the sleeve; u we must stay here no longer. 
The girl cannot leave the city, and as for this fellow, he shall 
be arrested on the morrow. See — the rabble increases, and 
anger rankles among them.” 

“ Then go we now,” said the prince, at length; “ but ” 
— he turned to Gio as he spoke — “ you’d better be a creeping 
thing among the vipers of some crumbling ruin than be 
what now thou art, for thy dwelling shall be razed to its 
foundations, and thyself be put to a torturing death. Pol- 
lath and Byzantho, bear you the body to the nearest station. 
The rest will follow me.” 

The prince trembled with rage while he spoke, and though 
he had gone so far for the attainment of the object he had in 
view, yet, for reasons which will be explained hereafter, he 
dared not now prosecute it further; so, after having seen the 
body of Theodoric borne from the place, he departed. 

The crowd who had collected outside now came rushing 
into the artisan’s shop; but Gio evaded all their inquiries; 
and at length, by dint of persuasion, combined with a few 
threats, he cleared them out and closed his doors. 

For some moments after the armorer was left alone with 
his boy, he stood in profound meditation. His huge fists 


12 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 

were clutched together like the jaws of his own vice, and 
the muscles in his arms and neck worked as though they 
would have broken from their confinement. At length he 
started up from his reverie, and bringing his right fist upon 
his breast with sledge like power, he growled forth to 
himself: — 

“ O Mapen, I would not sit upon your throne for the 
diadem of Persia. The wickedness of thyself and the lords 
shall ere long crush thee. There is a dark cloud gatheriug 
above your heads, and when its fury breaks upon Tyre the 
night shall be blacker than when the direful hosts of Neb- 
uchadnezzar drove destruction through the ancient city and 
forced her people upon this island. Beware, oh, king! for 
even the meanest of thy subjects can feel like other men.” 
“Gio,” said the boy, gazing with awe upon the form of 
his master, “ shall we not flee from this place ? ” 

“ And wherefore ? ” 

“ The king — the prince.” 

“ They dare not molest me or mine. Phalis may threaten, 
but a citizen’s house is made sacred by our laws, and nought 
but a crime may subject me to even the intrusion of a civil 
posse. The prince led armed men upon me and I resisted. 
Let them do what they dare! ” 

“ But may not she whom they pursued be a criminal ? ” 
asked Abal, in a modest tone. 

“ No, boy,” answered Gio, with a strange emotion. “ That 
girl, weak and helpless as she seems, bears a charm upon 
her person that pales even a king. I dare go — But never 
mind; attend you now to the work I gave you, and I will 
seek the lady.” 

Abal gazed after his master as he passed through the 
small door, and a half puzzled and half fearful expression 
rested upon his countenance as he commenced his work. 


THE AKMOREK OF TYKE. 


13 


CHAPTER II. 

THE FLIGHT. 

Within one of the chambers of Gio, pale and trembling, 
sat Marina, the daughter of Kison Ludim. She was a beau- 
tiful creature, tall and graceful, with the golden hair and 
blue eyes of her countrywomen, and sortie nineteen years 
had given their stamp of maturity to her woman’s form and 
features. By her side, and gaziug upon her with respectful 
deference, stood Esther, the only daughter of the armorer. 
They had heard the sound of contending voices, and the 
slight rattling of steel, but for a time all had been silent, and 
Marina feared the worst. A heavy footfall was heard from 
the passage — it ascended the steps. The fugitive turned 
more pale, and grasped the rude bench upon which she ^at 
as though she would not be torn from it. 

“ Fear not,” said Esther, noticing the manner of the poor 
girl. “ That’s my father’s step.” 

And so it proved, for in a moment more Gio entered the 
apartment. 

“ Have they gone ? ” cried Marina, as she started up from 
her seat. 

“ Yes, they have,” returned Gio, gazing with fond respect 
upon her who had sought his protection. u You came oppor- 
tunely to one who feared not your pursuers.” 

“ Oh, the gods be thanked!” murmured the fair girl. 
u And did you deny that I was here, good Gio ? ” 

“ I denied them nothing, save the entrance to my dwell- 
ing. One I killed — the rest went away.” 

“ Killed one! Then you too are undone,” replied Marina. 
“ Kay, fair daughter, I am not yet undone. But tell me 
— where did the prince attack you, and how ? ” 


* ./ /..Jj < I i, K. 

14 THE AEMGEER OF TYEE. 

“ In my own dwelling,” returned Marina. “ Over an hour 
ago he called at my door and was admitted by the servants. 
He sent for me, and I obeyed his summons, thinking that if 
violence were offered me my people would protect me. He 
asked me to accompany him to his father’s palace, which I 
of course refused to do.” 

“ And why did you refuse ? ” asked Gio. 

“ Because the king had murdered my father, and I feared 
he meditated evil against me.” 
u Thy father may not be murdered.” 

“ How! Hot murdered! ” uttered Marina. 

“ He may be, and he may not be. The king gave out 
that he died a natural death.” 

“ But we saw not his body. If he meant not to murder 
him, then why did he drag him from his home ? ” 

“ The king had his own reasons for that,” returned Gio, 
in a hopeful mood; “ and perhaps he has murdered him; but 
I think your father would, for the present, be of more 
service to Mapen alive than dead. At all events, I will 
give you this piece of advice: Should you ever fall into the 
hands of the king, let not the belief in your father’s death 
influence you in giving way to his commands, neither let 
any threats of his move you to compliance.” 

“ Oh, sir! what thing is this you have in your mind? 
Do you — do you think my father lives ? ” 

“ I cannot say that I think Kison Ludim is living; but 
what I have said has been only given for the purpose I have 
stated — to warn you against surrendering to Mapen through 
such a fear. But tell me, did the prince use force in your 
dwelling ? ” 

“ Yes. When I refused to accompany him he called upon 
the soldiers he had outside, and as they rushed in my 
servants shrank away; then they seized me, and throwing a 
thick veil over my head, so that none might recognize me, 
they led me forth. When once in the street, I walked pas- 
sively along till I came to the square next beyond here, and 
then, with all the strength I could command, I broke away 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


15 


from my conductors and darted towards your shop. I knew 
if any one would succor me ’twould be the friend of Strato, 
for Slrato's own house was too far off.” 

“ You were right,” returned Gio, with a sparkling eye; 
“ but when you first entered I did not know you. How- 
ever, you will be safe here till nightfall, and then I must 
seek for you a safer retreat. Young Strato shall know of 
your whereabouts.” 

At the mention of that name the rich blood flowed freely 
to the face of Marina, and for a moment her eyes were bent 
to the floor; but she soon looked up, and while a tear gath- 
ered in her eye, she said: — 

“ The gods will reward you for this, but I fear you will 
suffer.” 

“ Ho, not so long as I can protect you. Were you once 
well within the power of the king I might then fall; but 
fear not for me. I will save you, because I know that Strato 
loves you and that you are his affianced bride. I love Strato, 
and thus will I serve him.” 

“ But the king will surely send for you.” 

“ Then let him send.” 

“ And he will force you to give me up.” 

“ He cannot.” 

“ He may punish you for your disobedience with death.” 
“ He dare not — at least, so long as 1 can keep you safely 
from him.” 

“But what is this mystery, Gio? What strange charm 
has thus been thrown around my person, that both the king 
and prince should think so much of securing me, and that 
even you rest your life upon the same possession ? ” in- 
quired Marina. 

“I do not rest my life solely upon that,” replied Gio, 
betraying an evident desire to evade the direct question, 
u for I might be liberally rewarded for delivering you up. 
You need not tremble, for so long as I can hold you, you 
have nothing to fear. Now, Esther,” continued the ar- 
morer, turning to his daughter, “go you and prepare 


16 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


dresses for a disguise, both for yourself and Marina; for ere 
long we must set out, and you shall not only accompany 
her, but for the present, at least, you shall remain with her. 
I know of a place where you may both remain in safety. 
In the meantime, I will go and make such preparations as I 
can. Be speedy now, for the veil of night will soon be down 
upon our streets, and I would start ere the king’s messengers 
can come upon us.” 

As Gio spoke he left the apartment, and in a moment 
more Esther went away to do her father’s bidding, leaving 
Marina once more alone. 

. About a month previous to the opening of our tale Kison 
Ludim, an old noble of Tyre, had been sent by the king on 
business to Sidon, since which time he had not been seen 
by his friends. Mapen had given out that the old man had 
been lost at sea, and though none could contradict the state- 
ment, yet a few of the people felt sure that the king had 
some cause of fear in connection with the missing noble, 
so that, even had, such a catastrophe actually transpired, 
some thought that his death had been brought about by 
premeditation on the king’s part. What the king could 
have had against the old noble few could comprehend, and 
even those few, if we except Gio, the king, and Prince 
Phalis, knew not the secret, though they did know one 
thing; they knew that the king had asked of Kison Ludim 
the hand of his daughter for the prince, and that that 
request had been denied to the monarch, simply for the 
reason that Marina had already been solemnly affianced to 
young Strato. The king was of course angry at this per- 
emptory refusal of his royal wish, and ere long the pre- 
sumptuous father of the wished-for maiden was sent on his 
mission to Sidon; from which mission he had not returned. 

In the meantime, the fair Marina had been left unmolested 
in charge of her father’s house and servants, and not until 
the present time had any demonstration on the part of the 
king in favor of his project been made; but now, he would 
gain by force what he had failed to obtain by persuasion, 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


17 


At length night fell down upon the city, and Esther 
arrayed Marina and herself in the garbs of fisher girls, 
while Gio, attired as a rough boatman, and wearing a heavy 
sword concealed beneath his frock, led the way out from 
his dwelling by way of the roof, and passing along under 
the shade of the high brick parapets of the neighboring 
buildings, the party kept on till they reached a flight of stone 
steps that led down against the northern wall of the city. 

“Here you must remain for a few moments,” said Gio, 
“ while I go down and see if the way is clear. Keep low 
behind this small turret till I return.” 

“ You will not be gone long ? ” urged Marina, in a trem- 
bling tone, while she pulled her dress more closely about 
her, as she felt the cool breeze that came sweeping up the sea. 
“ No. The small harbor is only a few steps from here.” 
“ What ? And do you mean to take me from the city ? ” 
asked the fair fugitive, in some surprise. 

“Most certainly,” returned Gio. “There is surely no 
safety for you here. Do you hesitate ? ” 

It was some moments before Marina answered. She bent 
her head in thought, and seemed troubled. 

“ It seems hard that I should have to flee the city,” she 
at length murmured. “ I who have done no one wrong.” 

“ Ay, it is hard, lady; but it is nevertheless necessary.” 

“ Why — oh, why must I leave my father’s house ? Who 
will take care of his property ? ” 

“ Would you go back to your father’s house now ? ” 

“ No, no; not now. But” 

“ But what ? ” said the armorer, as the girl hesitated. 

“ Alas, sir, I hardly know I I would seek safety, but must 
I do it thus ? 99 

“ If you go with me, I will swear that you shall be safe; 
but to remain in the city would be dangerous.” 

“ But the prince may give over his persecution.” 

“ He will not, lady.” 

“ Why should he seek to make me his wife ? He cannot 
have seen me to love me, and both he and t\ 3 king know 

s 


18 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


that I am already affianced. Indeed, his very conduct 
to-day is proof that he bears me no love.” 

“ Marina,” returned Gio, in a somewhat anxious manner, 
“ we cannot remain long here to parley; but of three things 
let me assure you: First, the prince will seek your hand, 
even though it be at the risk of his life, and no means will 
he leave untried to reach that end. Second, if you remain 
in the city he will certainly find you, and when he seeks you 
again, he will do it with a posse of officers who may not be 
resisted. Third, if you go with me, you shall be safe, and 
Strato shall know of your whereabouts.” 
u I will go — I will go,” quickly returned Marina. “ But 
tell me of one thing more; how long shall I have to stay ? ” 
A fierce fire glowed in the eyes of the powerful armorer, 
and his hands were clutched with nervous life. With an 
instinctive movement he cast his glance about over the 
towering turrets and spires of the city — then a dark smile 
passed over his features, and in a hushed, premonitory tone, 
he uttered: — 

“ Not long; perhaps till the waning of another moon — 
perhaps longer; but when you do return, you shall be safe. 
Remain here now till I return.” 

As Gio spoke he turned away and descended the steps. 
Marina watched him till he turned the angle of the building, 
and then she laid her head upon Esther’s bosom. 








THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


19 


CHAPTER III. 

THE PURSUIT AND THE SEASIDE CONFLICT. 

For nearly half an hour the two girls remained alone 
upon the house-top where their conductor had left them. A 
few stars glittered in the heavens, but they hardly had power 
to relieve the darkness that dwelt over the scene, though for 
all that the eye could reach to some distance over the gently 
swelling bosom of the Mediterranean. The air was laden 
with a heavy dew, and as Marina shrank beneath the chill 
moisture she began to be alarmed at the protracted absence 
of Gio. 

u Fear not,” urged Esther, as she felt the hand of her 
companion tremble; “ my father will surely return.” 
u But why does he stay so long ? ” 
u Perhaps he finds it difficult to procure a boat.” 

“ But may he not find it difficult to obtain a pass out from 
the city ? ” suggested Marina, with a shudder. 

u No, that cannot be, for no citizen can be stopped, except 
by special edict.” 

“ But your father is in disguise.” 

“ It makes no difference,” returned Esther, drawing her 
arm more closely about the form of her companion; “ either 
as a fisherman of the coast or as a Tyrian citizen he can pass. 
But hark! What noise is that below ? ” 
u Oh, the gods protect us! ” 

“ It comes from my father’s house,” uttered Esther. 
u Then we are lost! We are pursued! ” ejaculated Marina. 
Esther placed her hand upon the parapet and looked over 
into the space below. Nothing but the opposite w all and the 
stairs were to be seen. The sounds that had arrested her 
attention, as she listened more carefully, indeed came from 

2 


20 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


the direction of her own dwelling, and she had no hesitation 
in deciding that officers were endeavoring to gain admit- 
tance. She was upon the point of speaking, when a hurried 
footfall broke the air, and the half-formed words were 
changed to an exclamation of relief as she recognized the 
steps of her father. 

“ Quick! quick! ” exclaimed Gio, as he came bounding up 
the stairs. “ There’s not a moment to be lost. The king 
has issued an order for my arrest, and also of all within my 
house. But hurry, and we have yet time, for the officers 
are still thumping at my door,” he added, quickly. 

The armorer took Marina by the hand and led her down 
the stairs, while Esther followed closely behind. When they 
reached the street Gio stopped for an instant to listen, and 
then turning to the right he glided swiftly along under cover 
of the wall. 

“ Hasten, hasten,” he urged, at the same time half lifting 
Marina from the pavement. “ They have started on again, 
and some of them come this way.” 

Marina needed no urging, however, for her ears caught the 
sound of the pursuers, and with a fleet step she kept by the 
side of her conductor. At length they reached the gate that 
led out to the small harbor, where, within a small arched 
alcove, stood a mailed soldier, armed with a heavy spear and 
a buckler, while near by him, within a perforated block of 
wood, stood some dozen light javelins. 

“Who would pass?” said the sentry, stepping forward. 
“The same who was here but now after his boat,” confi- 
dently returned Gio. 

“But these girls? ” 

“ Both my daughters.” 

“ They cannot pass.” 

“ Cannot ? They must.” 

“ I say they cannot.” 

“ And why ? ” 

“ We have orders from the king to allow no female to 
pass out from the city.” 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


21 


“ Fool! that order relates only to those who belong within 
your walls. Do you not know the difference between the 
poor fisher-girls of the coast, and the females of Tyre ? ” 

“ I should be a fool to break the orders of my superiors.” 
“ You will be a greater fool if you detain us. See you not 
that it is already late? Come, let us pass.” 
u What, father,” exclaimed Esther, in well feigned aston- 
ishment, “ does the man think we belong in the city ? ” 

“ Ay, so he pretends; but come, he will not detain us 
longer, for I give him credit for more sense.” 

The stout heart of Gio trembled slightly, as he heard the 
near and still nearer approach of the pursuers, for in his 
haste to make sure of the boat, he had not thought of pro- 
viding for the emergency that had thus arisen in his way. 
But pass he must, even though the sentry had to be over- 
come by force, for he had set his life against the wicked 
plan of the king, and he would not now be baulked by a 
hireling arm. As he spoke he pushed both the girls ahead 
of him within the portal, and then turning to the soldier, 
he continued: — 

u Of course you will not detain us ? ” 

“ I must detain the girls,” firmly replied the sentry, as 
he lowered the point of his spear. 

“Very well — then be it so,” uttered Gio, with his lips 
almost closed. “ Come you back, my children.” 

The soldier took this all in good faith, and raising the 
point of his weapon, he started as though he would have 
stepped back, when Gio, with a single bound, caught him in 
his powerful embrace, and dashed down through the gate 
towards the water. 

“ Follow, follow! ” he shouted to the girls, and on the next 
moment he had hurled the ill-fated sentry into the water. 

Close at hand was a small boat pulling only two oars, 
and into this Gio at once hastened Marina and Esther, and 
then casting off the painter he leaped in himself, seized the 
oars, and darted off. Just as he cleared the landing-steps, 
he had the satisfaction of seeing the soused sentry clamber 


22 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


safely out of his bath, but ere the latter could reach his 
javelins— for which weapons he at once made his way— the 
object of his wrath was skipping over the water far out of 
his reach. 

It was too dark to distinguish objects upon the landing 
from the point Gio had now reached, but yet he knew from 
the sounds that came through the air that his pursuers had 
arrived at the gate; for amid various oaths and execrations 
he could hear hurried calls for a boat, and he knew, too, 
that the dip of his own oar-blades could be distinctly made 
out by those upon the shore. 

“ They are preparing to follow us,” muttered he, as he 
leaned further back at his oars. 

“ But they can’t overtake us now,” hopefully remarked 
Esther. 

“ I don’t know. There are some swift barges at the 
landing, and if they have hands enough to man the oars, 
they may yet give us a hard pull.” 

For a few moments nothing more was said, but at length 
Esther remarked: — 

“ Surely I see not how they could have tracked us thus, 
for no one could have seen us coming over the houses.” 

“ Simple enough,” returned Gio. “ There were two par- 
ties of them when they left our house, and of course one of 
them would naturally start for that gate. Ah, there starts 
a barge! ” 

A heavy plash of oars at the landing was now plainly 
heard, and Gio set himself more firmly to his task. He had 
only a quarter of a mile to clear, but even that gave him more 
time upon the water than he desired. The sweat rolled 
from his brow in trinkling streams, and his broad chest 
heaved beneath the exertion he was putting forth. Esther 
and Marina sat together in the stern of the boat, where 
they watched with anxious gaze their stout guardian, and 
ever and anon they would cast their eyes back towards the 
point from whence they had come. One furlong only now 
lay between them and the shore, but the dim outlines of 


THE ARMORER OP TYRE. 


23 


the barge could be plainly distinguished through the gloom, 
and the dusky forms of her oarsmen loomed up above her 
bows. Ahead, the shore stretched along with its clear line 
of white, breaking foam, beyond which lay the goal. 

“Esther,” said Gio, as the barge came nearer, “stand 
up, and see if you can count the number of our pursuers ? ” 

The girl placed her hand upon Marina’s shoulder for 
support, and after gazing in the given direction for a few 
moments, she replied: — 

“ I can see them distinctly. There are seven— six at the 
oars, and one steering.” 

The armorer made no further remark, but with a few 
more strokes his boat slid high up on the sand. 

“ Now for your lives! ” he shouted. “ Leap! Mind not 
the water.” 

Esther caught Marina by the hand and jumped from the 
boat. The barge had already struck upon the sand, but her 
depth was such that she remained yet some ten or fifteen 
feet from the shore. 

“ Run, run I ” cried Gio. “ Keep the shore, and stop not 
till you reach that tall pillar that stands nearest the sea.” 

The girls obeyed, and while yet he had been speaking the 
armorer had leaped back to where the sea had thrown up a 
long line of rocks, and snatching up two of such a size as 
he could wield with precision, he stood his ground. One of 
them he hurled with all his might at the head of his nearest 
pursuer, and he had the satisfaction of seeing his mark sink 
beneath the deadly missile. This was a game Gio had often 
played, and in all Tyre he had not his match at stoning. 

The advancing party stopped an instant as one of their 
number thus unexpectedly fell, but ere they exactly realized 
the cause, another met the same fate. 

“By the great Apollo,” cried one of the soldiers, “the 
fisherman is stoning us! ” 

“ Stand back,” shouted Gio, as the men started to rush 
forward, at the same time drawing his heavy sword; “ he 
who opposes me rushes upon his own death! ” 


24 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


“Ye gods! ’tis no fisherman. ’Tis Gio, as I’m alive!” 
exclaimed the foremost of the assailants. 

“ ’Tis Gio,” returned the armorer; “ and ye who know 
him best will best know how to act.” 

If there was one man above another whom the soldiers of 
Tyre respected and loved, that man was Gio, their unrivaled 
armorer, and more than that, none knew better how to use 
the weapons he made than he himself. Now, howsoever 
brave a man may be, there is something experienced in 
coming in contact with a universally acknowledged superior, 
that may never be felt in any other contest, and more espe- 
cially when that superior is one in whose superiority you 
have ever felt a pride. 

With these feelings the soldiers hesitated, and the officer 
who stood foremost spoke: — 

“Gio,” said he, “we are all officers of justice now, for 
we hold a warrant from the king for your own arrest and 
also that of the daughter of Kison Ludim, so you see we 
must take you. You have already slain two of our number, 
but of course further resistance will be useless. One of 
those was the fair Marina, I think, who started off along 
the shore? ” 

“ It was,” returned Gio; “ and I have sworn to protect 
her with my life.” 

“ But we must obey the king.” 

“ And I must keep my oath.” 

“ Then you will not surrender ? ” 

“ Never! ” 

“ Then your blood be upon your own head.” 

During this colloquy Gio had been gradually working his 
Way between the soldiers and the point towards which the 
girls had fled. There were now five opposed to him, and he 
had some doubts about being able to cope safely with them 
all. For a single moment he considered, and then turning 
suddenly about, he ran with all his might towards the point 
where the top of a towering marble pillar was pictured 
against the sky. The king’s messengers were somewhat 


25 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 

taken aback by this movement, but quickly recovering them- 
selves they followed in pursuit; but Gio outran them at such 
a rate that in a few moments he was lost to them in the 
darkness. 

The armorer had a point in view other than to run away, 
for no sooner did he ascertain that the night had dropped its 
veil between himself and his pursuers, than he turned short 
to the left, and ensconced himself behind a heap of moulder- 
ing ruins, where he armed himself with two large, sharp 
angled stones, and awaited the approach of the unsuspecting 
soldier officers. 

At length they came puffing along. Gio rose to a most 
favorable posture, and as soon as he was sure of his mark, he 
hurled forth one of his missiles. A man fell upon the sands. 
Again the party stopped in consternation, and another fell. 
There were now three left, and again drawing his sword the 
armorer sprang forward quickly. 

“Now stay your steps, and live!” shouted he, in tones 
that turned to the roar of the roused lion. “I fight for 
innocence against the wiles of wickedness; and were there 
ten thousand kings against me, they should take me or my 
charge only after I was dead. Back! Who dies first? 
Which of ye wishes it, let him advance but a single step and 
the fate is his! ” 

“ Gio,” said one of the soldiers, while he recoiled a step, 
“you know that from this moment your life is forfeited. 
Deliver up to us the Lady Marina, and the king will give to 
you a free pardon.” 

The armorer laughed a bitter laugh as the man thus spoke, 
but in a moment more he advanced a step, and raising his 
ponderous sword, he uttered: — 

“Back to your boat, and if the king wants me, let him 
take me, and let me tell you this: were I now alone I would 
go with you a prisoner to the king; but the daughter of 
Kison Ludim he cannot have. That is enough. Now turn.” 

“By the great Olympus!” cried he of the soldiers who 
had before spoken; “ we might as well die here, as to die by 


26 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


the hands of the executioner, for Mapen will not brook 
such cowardly defeat. Will you follow me ? ” 

“ Yes,” returned his two companions. 

“ Then brace your swords, and on! ” 

The moment these words left the speaker’s lips, Gio dashed 
like a tiger upon his opponents. He waited not for their 
onset, but he made it himself, and at the first stroke one of 
his antagonists fell. The two remaining soldiers shrank not 
back now, for they had entered the den and they dared not 
turn. They struck at the armorer, but one sword he dodged, 
and the other he broke — then he of the broken sword fell. 
The solitary soldier leaped quickly back crying for quarters. 

“ Take your life and go,” returned Gio, as he dropped the 
point of his weapon, “ and if you reach the king, tell him 
how fared your party; and tell him too, that he can find me 
any time after to-morrow.” 

“ I shall not go to Tyre again,” returned the soldier. 
“ Anywhere in Phoenicia I can find quarters, but to return 
would be sure death I ” 

“ As you please,” said Gio, “ only mind that you follow 
not me.” 

With these words the armorer turned and followed in the 
steps of the girls, leaving the lone soldier to dispose of him- 
self as he might think proper. 




the armorer op ty re. 


27 


CHAPTER IV. 

THE RUINED TEMPLE. THE PRIEST OF HERCULES. 

During the time that Gio had been engaged against his 
pursuers, the moon had been gradually rising, and as the 
fleecy clouds began to fly away, surrounding, and even 
distant, objects fell upon the sight. In the distance, upon 
its rock-bound island, lay the sleeping city of Tyre, with the 
moonbeams just dancing upon its marble walls and gilded 
spires, while far away beyond lay the widespread sea. But 
on the shore where parted the armorer and the soldier, 
stretching back to the distance of a mile, was spread out a 
scene of peculiar interest. Burnt and blackened walls, 
cracked and tumbling, and toppling upon their foundations 
— huge columns of marble and granite standing against the 
sky, and others lying along on the brick and mortar strewn 
ground, fell upon the right in strange confusion. Here and 
there some massive temple, which the destroyer had not 
been able to touch, still maintained its sacred front, though 
the wild vine and green moss had been slowly creeping over 
it. Occasionally, as the eye swept the scene, a fisherman’s 
hut would obtrude itself, showing that amid the crumbling 
relics of the past humanity still held its home. 

Here lay old Tyre, and as she thus dwelt within the 
solemnity of the memories that clung to her decaying monu- 
ments, she presented a strange contrast to the city of her 
children that now stood in magnificent power upon the 
opposite isle. 

Oh, what a grandeur there is in the speaking stones of 
ancient ruins! The smooth, unlettered marble speaks a lan- 
guage peculiarly its own — a language made powerful from 
its very mysterious silence. The fallen walls are nothing 


28 


THE ARMORER OP TYRE. 


but carved and fashioned stones, but oh, what sacred 
memories cling about them, and what thrilling tales have 
been whispered in their now locked-up ears. But above all, 
they tell to us in thunder tones the solemn truth, earthly 
power hangs only upon fading, ending moments; and from 
the decay of mortality and its works, the mind irresistibly 
wanders away to that God with whom alone dwells all that 
can outlast destroying Time. 

Upon a bank formed by the soft moss that had grown over 
a thick slab, just at the foot of a towering column, sat the 
fair Marina and the faithful Esther. Words may have 
passed between them, but now they seemed to rest in silent 
anxiety, for they had sat there long, and waited for their 
guide, and now that the moon had risen, and he came not, 
they began to feel anxious, for the bright beams would ere 
long reveal them to any one who might be passing that way. 

At length, as they had almost become chilled through 
by the damp coolness of the atmosphere, they were startled 
from their anxiety by the appearance of Gio, and with a 
simultaneous cry of delight, they both sprang to their feet. 

44 You are not hurt, father?” exclaimed Esther, as she 
laid her hand affectionately upon his arm. 

44 No, no, child.” 

44 But how did you escape them ? ” 

44 Who?” 

44 The men in the barge.” 

44 Never mind, Esther,” answered the armorer, with a 
shudder; 44 suffice it for you to know that I am safe, and that 
in my own safety you, too, are safe.” 

44 But I thought I heard the clang of steel for a moment 
just before you came.” 

44 Have you not heard it oft in my shop ? ” 

44 Yes, father.” 

44 Then the clang was to some purpose. Come, follow 
me, for the point of our destination lies not far from here.” 

Thus saying, Gio turned his steps to the left around the 
huge pillar, and struck off through a labyrinth of fluted 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


20 


columns, which appeared to have once supported the arcade 
that surrounded an extensive piazza. When he had passed 
these, the way opened to a narrow street, which he followed 
to the right for a few steps, and then crossing again to the 
left he passed through a wide aperture in a massive marble 
wall, beyond which was a widespread scene of magnificent 
desolation. Huge slabs, prostrate columns, broken vases, 
shafts, and capitals; elaborately ornamented architraves, 
friezes, and cornices, with here and there long rows of 
marble seats, and nearly in the centre of all, a huge porphyry 
pedestal, marked the spot as one of more than common note. 
Here, in fact, had stood the vast temple of Hercules, that 
god being the titular deity of the Tyrians. Upon the pedestal 
just mentioned, once stood the famous oracle of Hercules (a 
temple and oracle of the same name were now in the island 
city), and now here, Gio stopped and gazed about him as if 
to assure himself that no watchers were near. 

“ Here we wait for one who will give us conduct,” said 
the armorer; “ and one against whose power even Mapen 
dare not raise a single jewel of his crown.” 

As Gio spoke, he stamped thrice with his heavy foot upon 
the Mosaic pavement where he stood, and while yet the girls 
waited curiously for the result of this strange movement, a 
low rumbling was heard beneath them, and in a moment 
more the huge mass that formed the pedestal moved some 
three feet, with a sort of rotary motion, from the place where 
it stood; then a wide slab was lifted till its edge leaned 
against the removed body, and as Marina started back in 
wonder, a human being ascended and stood by them. It was 
a man as tall and powerful as was Gio himself, and evidently 
disguised, for his form was enveloped in a sort of capacious 
toga, and a long strip of white cloth was drawn around his 
head and passed twice around under the chin, thereby 
leaving only the centre of the face visible. 

“ I’ve waited for you,” said this strange appearance. 

“ I’ve come as quickly as possible,” returned Gio. 

“Well, never mind; come down.” 


30 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


Gio took Marina by the hand and followed the new guide 
down the marble steps which had been revealed by the 
removal of the pedastal, Esther bringing up the rear. The 
apartment thus arrived at was quite capacious, and fitted 
up in a style of splendor quite remarkable, to say the least, 
and from the various symbols that adorned the walls and 
columns it must have been, during the being of the vast 
temple above, a secret resort of the priests of the oracle. 

“Here, my daughters,” said the stranger, “you can 
remain in peace and safety. Here are provisions in plenty, 
and "every night you will be visited by a servant who will 
attend to your wants, and supply your lamp with oil.” 

While the man was speaking, he removed the bandage 
from his head and face, and in so doing he revealed a flowing 
white beard and hair. Marina gazed for a moment upon him, 
and then clasping her hands together, she fell upon her 
knees and bent her head forward towards the pavement. 

She was in the presence of Balbec, the chief priest of the 
temple of Hercules, a man than whom none other was more 
honored, and at the same time more feared, in all Tyre. 

“ Arise, child,” said Balbec, as he extended his hand to 
assist her; “ you have nothing to fear. It may seem strange 
that I should thus leave my sacred office to aid thee, but 
the gods have so willed it and I must obey.” 

“ Oh, what strange fate is mine ? ” murmured Marina, as 
she gazed with trembling awe up into the face of the 
all-powerful priest. 

“ Thy fate is yet hidden, my child,” returned he; “ but 
the destiny is cast, nevertheless.” 

“ Then read it to me. Let me know the end of all this,” 
urged Marina, in anxious tones. 

“Nay, nay,” said Balbec. “Though the gods of our 
people reveal to their chosen servants some of the future, 
yet the Universal God to whom all other gods do homage, 
has made mortals after his own will and purpose, and from 
them he hides what he sees fit. For thine own happiness 
seek not too deeply into the future.” 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


31 


“ Forgive me, if I have sinned,” ejaculated Marina. “ To 
you, in whom all Tyre trusts, I may safely look with confi- 
dence. But I shall not be confined here long ? ” 
u My child,” returned the chief priest, “there is a dark 
storm-cloud rising over Tyre. That storm shall ere long 
burst, and when its fury has passed away you shall return 
to your home. Seek no more.” 

Strange and mysterious felt the daughter of Ludim. She 
knew that she lived and moved, but wherefore she knew not. 
Strange results were hanging upon her destiny, and momen- 
tous events were linked with her future. She felt herself 
to be in the hands of a power she could neither withstand 
nor comprehend. The heir of the Tyrian crown and sceptre 
had sought her hand, and he would have forced her to 
become his bride. The king, too, aimed at the same end, 
and to escape them both, she had given herself into the care 
of him who had brought her hither. Why was all this ? 
Why had her father been removed, except that she might 
become a more easy prey to the unaccountable desire of the 
king ? All, all, was as dark and inexplicable as the centre 
of high Olympus, and she found that she might have as well 
tried to pass though the adamantine barriers of the resistless 
mount, as to further seek a solution to the mysteries that 
enveloped her. 

“ Come, Gio,” said Balbec, as he wound the wide coif 
once more about his head; “ it is time that we were going.” 
“You speak truly, Balbec,” returned the armorer; and 
then turning to the two girls, he assured them that they had 
nothing to fear, and that their wants should be well cared for. 

“ And you, Esther,” he continued, “ will serve your com- 
panion as she may desire, for the time may come when you 
will thank me for giving you the office.” 

“ I thank you already,” said Esther, with sparkling eyes; 
“for it is a pleasure to me thus to serve one who both 
deserves and needs it.” 

Gio thanked his child with a kiss, and Marina then threw 
her arms about her kind friend’s neck. This little sunbeam 


32 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


of sympathy illuminated somewhat the darkness before the 
poor fugitive, for while the light of a pure friendship was in 
her path she had at least something worth living for. 

Shortly afterwards, Balbee and Gio bade the girls once 
more to be of good cheer, and then ascending the steps they 
passed out upon the pavement above. By a means known 
only to those two men who now stood there, the pedestal was 
moved back to its place, and then they turned towards the 
sea. None save themselves knew of the strange connection 
that existed between the high chief priest of the great Tyrian 
temple and the stalwart armorer of Tyre, — one standing as 
the “ chief est ” man of all the city, in that he was the sacred 
interpreter of the gods, and the chosen servant of Hercules 
— the other but a simple artisan, who labored humbly and 
hard for his daily bread. 

Balbee and Gio gained the boat, and put forth for the 
island; but when they entered the city it was by the south- 
ern gate, when a simple word from the former gave them 
instant passage by the sentinel. 


THE ARMORER OP TYRE. 


83 


CHAPTER V. 

THE PRISONER. 

Upon a slightly raised throne of ivory, inlaid with gold 
and precious stones, sat Mapen, King of Tyre. By his side 
stood Prince Phalis, over whose features the marks of dissi- 
pation had already been plainly laid. A few steps in front 
of the throne stood the sentinel who had been on post at 
the northern gate on the previous evening, and around him 
were a dozen soldiers, while back of the throne were ranged 
in the most exact order a score of attendants. 

The king’s countenance was dark and lowering, and as he 
clutched with nervous grip the hilt of a small dagger that 
was confined within his jeweled girdle, one might have seen 
that an emotion of more than ordinary import was rankling 
his soul. The soldiers stood trembling before the monarch, 
and as they met his flashing glances, they cowered as before 
some raving beast. 

u Slave I ” cried the king, addressing the afore-mentioned 
sentinel, who stood cringing like a whipped cur, “ was it by 
your post that these people passed? ” 

“ A man and two girls, sire.” 

“ And had you not arms ? ” 

“ I had, sire; but the man was powerful, and he seized 
me unawares. I stoutly refused the girls passage, but he 
overcame me. I know now that it must have been the 
armorer, for no other man in Tyre could have done what he 
did.” 

“ Then the man and the girls put off from your landing ? ” 
“ Yes, sire — towards the coast.” 
u And were they not almost immediately followed ? ” 

“ Yes, sire, by seven of your soldiers.” 


34 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


“ Phalis,” continued the king, turning to his son, “ have 
you sent messengers to the coast ? ” 

“Yes,” returned the prince. “I sent them early this 
morning. They should have returned by this time.” 

“Then we will wait for them,” said Mapen. And then 
turning to one of the officers who had command of the 
soldiers, he continued: — 

“ Now take that vile slave away and confine him. We will 
consider whether his life be worth the saving.” 

As the king thus spoke, the poor sentinel was led away. 
He knew Mapen too well to think of asking for pardon, or 
to attempt further explanation, for he knew that the simplest 
circumstances might decide his fate. 

For some time after the culprit was led away, a strict 
silence was maintained about the throne; but at length a 
sudden stir was heard without, and in a moment more a 
messenger rushed breathlessly into the royal presence. 

“ How now, sirrah ? ” exclaimed the king. “ Are you one 
who has been upon the coast this morning? ” 

“ I am, sire.” 

“And found you the soldiers who went thither last 
night ? ” 

“ All but one,” returned the messenger, trembling with 
the weight of the fearful news he bore. 

“Ha! and why have they not returned? Do they still 
search for the fugitives ? ” 

“ They are dead, sire.” 

“Dead!” iterated the king, springing from his throne, 
and grasping the speaker by the arm. “ Did I understand 
thee aright ? Dead, saidst thou ? ” 

“ Ease thy hold, sire, and I will tell thee all I saw.” 

“ Speak, then, and do it quickly.” 

“ Near the spot where both the pursued and the pursuers 
must have landed — for we found the barge still fast in the 
sand— lay two of the soldiers stretched out upon the sand. 
They had been slain by stones. Further on to the southward 
we found more of them dead. Two of these, also, had 


85 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 

■» 

been slain with stones, and the other two by the sword. The 
seventh was nowhere to be found, nor could we find the 
least traces beyond there of the fugitives, though we searched 
for over an hour.” 

“ Then the villain must have had accomplices,” shouted 
the king, as he started nervously across the marble pavement 
of his divan. 

“ No, sire,” returned the messenger. “ The soldiers had 
but one opponent, for the footprints in the sand were plain.” 
“ Think not strange of this, my royal father,” said Phalis. 
“ Gio is a man not to be easily overcome. Not only is he 
powerful in the extreme, but he is the best stone and sword 
player in Tyre.” 

“ And who is this Gio ? this man who puffs at my author- 
ity as though it were a candle which he might extinguish ? ” 
“ You know him well, father; the old armorer of Tyre, 
and for so long a friend and follower of young Strato.” 
“Strato, again!” uttered the king, suddenly starting as 
he heard the name. 

Over the face of the monarch there came a still darker 
cloud, but in a moment it passed away, and a grim, savage 
smile took its place. Two or three times he strode up and 
down the apartment, and then coming near to the prince, 
he uttered: — 

“ By the gods, Phalis, we will crush the viper beneath 
our feet. This Gio is Strato’s friend — Strato stands between 
us and the daughter of Kison Ludim — Gio defies our royal 
will — Strato urges him on — Strato shall be seized! ” 

“ Good, father,” returned Phalis, with sparkling eyes. 
“ The pretext is warrantable. Surely the armorer would 
not have done this without urging from some one higher 
than himself. But we must be wary, for young Strato is the 
generally beloved of all the merchants, and ’twould be unsafe 
to estrange their wealth from the royal support.” 

“Leave that to me,” said Mapen, in a confident tone; 
“ for I will make out a case against him of so firm a mould 
that even an Argus could not pick an objection against it.” 

3 


36 


THE ARMORER OP TYRE. 


Again the king strode across the divan, and stopping near 
the messenger, he said: — 

“ You say you found the tracks plain in the sand ?"” 

“ Yes, sire.” 
u And of the two girls ? ” 

“ We did.” 

u And could you not trace them ? ” 

u Only to where they became lost among the tall grass and 
moss of the ruins.” 

“ Oh, that the dog of an armorer would but once more 
show his face in Tyre,” exclaimed the monarch, striking his 
hands together with savage vehemence. 

“ Your majesty,” said one of the soldiers who had followed 
the messenger into the apartment, “ I saw the armorer this 
morning.” 

“ How, slave — this morning ? ” 

“ Yes, sire.” 
u Where ? ” 

“ In his shop, at work.” 

“ Now, slave, thou liest! The dog would not dare thus to 
beard me.” 

“I speak soberly, and that which I know,” confidently 
returned the soldier. 

“ And you saw Gio in his shop this morning ? ” 
u Most assuredly I did, sire.” 

“ Then,” cried the king, turning red, and trembling with 
rage, “ he shall find how a king can be revenged. Phalis, 
take you a guard and go to the armorer’s shop. If he be 
in, capture him and bring him here. Take javelins with 
you, and slay him if he offers the least resistance. Away 
now, and let me not wait long for your return, for till he be 
within my power I rest upon sharp, angry thorns.” 

With quick, eager movements the prince prepared for his 
expedition, and ere long, at the head of twenty men he set 
out. 

Gio had indeed gone to work in his shop, and as he ham- 
mered away upon his anvil no one could have mistrusted 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


87 


from his manner that aught unusual had happened. His boy 
was at the bellows, and as the bright sparks flew out from 
beneath the heavy hammer, the stout man seemed to forget 
that any other occupation had called him lately away from 
his forge. 

“ I think you’ll be called for to-day,” remarked the boy, 
as Gio plunged the pike-head he was fashioning once more 
into the fire. 

“ I expect so,” quietly returned the armorer, while a faint 
smile passed over his features. “ But speak you from your 
own reason, Abal, or from what you have seen ? ” 

“ From what I have seen, good master. Last night’s 
affairs were enough, for when I let the soldiers into the 
house so that they should not batter down the doors, they 
ran about like wild men; and when they left they assured me 
that you would never dare show your face here again.” 

“ Is that all ? ” 

“ No, it is not. Soldiers have looked in here upon you 
this morning, and then they hastened away towards the 
king’s palace.” 

Again Gio smiled, and drawing the pike-head from the 
fire, he drew down its point beneath his hammer. While 
he was at work, his doors were suddenly darkened, and on 
raising his head he beheld Prince Phalis and his soldiers. 

u Ah, royal prince, I give you a good-day,” said the 
armorer, in a half condescending tone and manner. 

“ I have come to give you a better one,” returned Phalis, 
in a bitter tone. “ You are my prisoner.” 

“ Aha— say you so ? ” 

“Dead, or alive, you go with me. Now which do you 
prefer? ” 

“ Oh, alive, by all means,” returned Gio, as he deliberately 
dipped the end of the pike into the water that was near him, 
and then watched the varying colors as they came and went 
upon the surface of the steel. 

“ Then prepare to accompany me to the palace,” said the 
prince, surprised at the utter coolness of the armorer. 


38 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


“ Let me catch this temper first,” returned Gio, without 
raising his eyes from the pointed steel. “ One moment — 
hold — blue — ah! that’s it. Flow, sir I will be with you in a 
moment.” 

From the armorer’s movements, Phalis seemed to fear 
that he was laying some plan for escape, and he drew his 
own javelin, and his followers did the same; but Gio thought 
of no such thing, for he turned quietly to where stood his 
wash-basin, and having performed his ablution, he arranged 
his apparel, and then informed the prince that he was 
ready to accompany him. 

“Abal,” he continued, turning to his boy, “ if I do not 
return before dark, you may secure the doors and retire; but 
I shall be here early in the morning, at all events.” 

“Don’t be too sure of that,” uttered the prince, in a 
meaning tone. 

“ Remember,” added Gio, without seeming to notice the 
words of Phalis, “ have all prepared for morning, for I will 
surely be here.” 

“We shall see,” said the prince, as he made a motion for 
his men to advance and surround the prisoner. 

“ So we shall,” returned Gio, with another of his peculiar 
smiles. “ But come, sirs, I am ready for the palace.” 

Phalis set forward with his prisoner, but shortly after he 
entered the street he began to find that had the armorer a 
mind to escape, it would have taken a greater force than 
his to have prevented, for on all hands the people began to 
collect, and though they spoke not openly in words, yet their 
gestures plainly evinced that they not only knew that Gio 
was a prisoner, but that they would dare even to rescue him 
should he give the signal. From house tops, and from cur- 
tained windows, from behind garden wall and from half- 
closed doors, came hisses and groans, and more than once 
the prince heard his own name used in connection with 
epithets anything but agreeable. 

“ Be not alarmed, prince,” said Gio, as he notieed Phalis’ 
fear, u those are but poor subjects of your father’s crown.” 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


89 


u But, by my father’s sceptre,” hissed the prince, seeming 
hardly to know at which to be the most exasperated, the 
sound that met his ears from the covers around, or the cool 
effrontery of his prisoner, “ they shall suffer for this.” 

Once more Gio laughed in his own peculiar way, but he 
spoke not further. Phalis gazed at the working features of 
the armorer, and wondered what feelings could thus move 
him in view of the sure fate that awaited him. 


CHAPTER YI. 

A STRANGE INTERVENTION. 

Mapen was waiting anxiously for the arrival of those who 
had been sent after the armorer. Part of the time he had 
been lounging upon his throne, and then he had walked 
nervously and hurriedly up and down the divan. The 
thoughts of Gio alone had not the power to move the king 
as he was now moved, nor had the simple fact that the 
daughter of Kison Ludim had escaped him. The immediate 
circumstances connected with these two persons might have 
irritated him, even to madness, but they could not have so 
utterly roused the maniac within him. There was a hidden 
cause; a deep, unfathomable mystery, that cast its black 
pall over the future, and Marina, the fair daughter of the 
murdered noble, was imaged forth in the vista. 

Again and again the monarch turned in his walk, and 
amid the incoherent mutterings that fell from his lips, there 


40 


THE ARMORER OP TYRE. 


was an occasional casting of the eyes upward, as though he 
feared that Heaven was frowning upon him, too. At length 
the sound of many feet upon the broad stairs that led to the 
divan fell upon his ears, and starting back towards his ivory 
throne he waited for the visitation. The first who entered 
was the prince, and next came Gio. 

The armorer slowly advanced towards the throne, folded 
his arms across his huge breast, then bent upon the king a 
stern, proud look, and said: — 

“ Sire, I await your pleasure.” 

Mapen started further back upon his throne as he met the 
gaze of the prisoner, for he was not a little struck with the 
boldness of his manner; but in a moment a sense of his own 
royal power came to his aid, and in a tone made calm by his 
very effort to suppress his rising passion, he said: — 

“ Yile slave ” 

“ I am a citizen, sire,” calmly interrupted the armorer. 

“ From this moment you are the lowest of slaves! ” cried 
the king. “ Last night you wrested a fugitve from my 
officers.” 

“You mistake, sire.” 

“ Did you not secrete the daughter of Kison Ludim ? ” 

“ She sought refuge in my house, and I gave it to her.” 
“ Ay, and you openly resisted a prince of the realm and 
his officers.” 

“ I resisted a rabble who chased the poor frightened girl 
to my shop, sire; but under such circumstances I know no 
distinction of men. It was threatened innocence seeking an 
asylum, and the gods smiled when I gave it.” 

“ By Jupiter, thou hadst better beware of thy tongue.” 

“ And thou of thy — But never mind, go on.” 

The king gazed a moment upon the powerful man in 
silence. A variety of conflicting emotions stirred within 
him, and more than once the color forsook his cheek, but at 
length he said: — 

“ You knew that your king desired the presence of the 
Lady Marina?” 


THE ARMORER OP TYRE. 


41 

“ I knew nothing, save that I swore to protect her,” 

“ Hal and to whom didst thou swear it ? ” 

“ To the lady herself.” 

“ And to no one else ? ” 

“No.” 

“ You slew Theodoric ? ” 

“ Ay.” 

“ And threatened the prince ? ” 

“ I advised the prince.” 

“ Did you not convey Marina out of the city last night ? ” 
“ Yes.” 

“ And assault the sentinel on his post ? ” 

“ I threw him overboard.” 

“ Did you not meet the officers whom I sent after you ? ” 
“ I did, sire.” 

“ And did they not tell you that they came with power 
from me ? ” 

“Yes.” 

“ Then how met you their demands ? ” 

“ As the true man ever meets a demand to surrender his 
rights and the liberties of those whom he has sworn to 
protect. I fought them, and all but one 1 slew, and to him 
I gave quarters.” 

“ And the lady — where is she ? ” 

“ Where you can never find her.” 

“ Now mark me, Gio,” said the king, in a deep, meaning 
tone, as he arose from his throne and took a step forward, 
“ your life depends upon your answer. If you will give up 
to me the Lady Marina, I will swear to overlook your crimes 
thus far, and restore you to liberty.” 

“ Mapen,” returned the armorer, raising himself to his 
full height, while his eyes flashed and sparkled with the 
proud spirit that moved within, “ I will not deliver her up.” 
“ Then, by the immortal Hercules, you die I ” exclaimed 
the monarch, sinking back upon his throne. 

“What would that benefit you?” asked Gio, in a 
strangely sounding voice. 


i 





42 THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 

44 Revenge! ” hissed the king. 

44 Few persons are so bold as to risk life, and even a crown, 
for mere revenge,” fell in quiet tones from Gio’s lips. 

Mapen turned pale as these words fell upon his ears, and 
twice, as he attempted to speak, the words were forced back. 
At length, however, with less anger, but more of anxiety, 
he said: — 

44 I have given you my word, and you may depend upon it. 
If you do not deliver up the girl you die.” 

44 Let me tell you one thing, sire, ere you fully make up 
your mind. I am not the only one who knows where 
Marina is, and when I am missing she will have another 
protector, and ” — here Gio bent forward and spoke so low 
as only to be heard by the king — 44 she may marry whom she 
chooses.” 

44 Ha! how guessed you that secret ? ” cried Mapen, start- 
ing up again from his seat, and looking earnestly in the face 
of the prisoner. 

“I have not guessed it, sire; I know it. Beware how 
you tempt the gods.” 

For full five minutes the monarch gazed fixedly upon the 
calm face of the stalwart armorer. At the end of that time 
he made a motion for all the soldiers to leave the divan, 
and then turning to his attendants, he bade them stand 
further back from the throne. The prince alone remained 
within hearing, and even he wondered at the sudden change 
that had come over his father’s countenance. 

“ Gio,” said the king, in an earnest, persuasive tone, 
“ you know then the secret that lies in the destiny of Lady 

Marina ? ” 

44 I do, sire.” 

“ And will you not give her up to me ? ” 

44 I cannot.” 

44 I will make you rich.” 

44 I cannot.” 

44 You shall have honors.” 

44 You have my answer.” 


THE ARMORER OE TYRE. 


43 


“ You shall stand next to the prince himself in the 
kingdom.” 

“ Not for your crown itself would I resign her to you.” 

“ And to abide by these answers you are unalterably 
fixed ? ” 

“ As Persia is by her laws.” 

“ Then take your doom, and let me tell thee that if 
Marina be on the earth I’ll find her, though I have to dig 
through the base of Mount Caucasus. Ho, without there! ” 
In a moment more the soldiers came rushing into the 
apartment. 

“ Seize the dog! ” cried the king, as the soldiers crowded 
about him, “ and strike oil his head. Off with it, I say! ” 

A score of men gathered about the armorer and bore him 
to his knees. The same calm, iron look rested upon his 
countenance, and his eyes were still fixed unwaveringly 
upon the king. 

“ Ebo, step you forward and strike.” 

A stout soldier stepped forth at this summons, and drew 
his sword. Still Gio flinched not. 

“ Strike! ” 

The soldier’s keen weapon was already raised when the 
king made a motion for him to pause, and then turning to 
Gio, he said: — 

“ Once more I give thee a chance for thy life. Wilt thou 
deliver up to me her whom I seek ? ” 

“ Never! ” 

“Ebo, strike!” 

Again the soldier’s sword was raised, but it fell not upon 
the head of the armorer, for at that instant there sounded a 
voice, as if from the very foundations of the palace, so deep 
and sepulchral that all started with awe at its very tones : — 
“ Mapen, beware! Tempt not thine own fate thus.” 

The point of the raised sword dropped harmless upon the 
pavement, and the now terrified king sprang from his seat. 

“Ye gods! whose voice was that ? ” ejaculated the mon- 
arch, hardly conscious of what he said. 


» 


44 THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 

“ Mapen, tempt us not! ” sounded like distant thunder 
from the realms of space. 

“ ’Tis the oracle! ” uttered Prince Phalis, laying his hand 
upon his father’s arm. “ Push not this matter further, but 
let Gio be conducted to a dungeon. We may imprison him, 
though we may not spill his blood.” 

“ You are right, my son,” returned Mapen, as soon as he 
had recovered from his perturbation; and then turning to 
the soldiers, he added: — 

“ Take the prisoner to the safest dungeon beneath the 
eastern palace, and mind you, Ebo, I shall hold you 
responsible for his safe keeping.” 

The officer bowed assent, and unresistingly the armorer 
was led away. His step was proud and firm, and he looked 
more like a laurelled hero than like a prisoner being led to 
his dungeon. 

“ What make you of that man?” asked the king, as he 
and his son were left alone with the slaves. 

“ I can only say that he is a bold, fearless fellow.” 

“ But I mean this strange protection he receives from 
the oracle,” said the king. 

“I think I see through it,” returned the prince, in a 
thoughtful mood. “You are warned that by cutting off 
your best men you are weakening your own power, and 
raising the people against you, for it is well known that the 
armorer is a favorite of the city.” 

“ But that the oracle should speak in my palace ? ” 

“It is the voice of Hercules, and may speak where it 
chooses.” 

“Perhaps you are right, my son; but at all events, Gio 
goes not forth from his dungeon till Marina be in the 
palace.” 

“ Ah, that brings young Strato to my mind,” uttered 
Phalis, with sudden energy. “ Let him be taken at once, 
for we should surely have him within our power.” 

“Hot now, my son.” 

“ Why not ? We have cause enough.” 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


45 


44 He may better serve our purpose where he is.” 

44 I do not comprehend.” 

44 Look ye, Phalis. If any one is to be informed of the 
whereabouts of Marina, that one will be Strato, for Gio is 
under obligation to him; and in all probability the young 
merchant even now knows where she is, for the armorer 
said there was one other beside himself who possessed the 
secret of her concealment. Do you not understand ? ” 

44 Yes — I see.” 

44 Well, then, Strato will be likely to visit the lady.” 

44 Aha, now I see,” exclaimed the prince. 44 We will 
have him narrowly watched.” 

44 Exactly. We will depute a dozen or so of our most 
trusty men to watch his movements, and when he least 
expects it, his every step shall be noted. The Lady Marina 
shall yet be ours.” 

44 But,” ventured the prince, 44 would it not be well to 
make some search among the ruins of the old city? She 
must certainly be concealed somewhere there, for Gio could 
not have had time to have gone further.” 

44 No, that would not be so well, for such a search might 
only serve to frighten the bird away. We will wait till we 
are sure of her nest, and then all is safe.” 

Again Phalis acknowledged that his father was right, and 
shortly afterwards he left the divan to select such men as he 
thought best suited to the object he had in view. A smile 
was upon his countenance, for he thought he could see the 
shadow of his success even now cast before him. 


46 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


/ ✓. 1/ < r /. I 


CHAPTER VII. 

THE PRISONER AND HIS VISITOR. 

When Gio was led from the king’s presence, he was 
conducted out into the central piazza, and across to the 
eastern wing of the palace, beneath which were the strong 
dungeons for state prisoners. From the extreme angle of 
the building there led a flight of stone steps to a dreary apart- 
ment beneath, and to this place was the armorer conducted. 
The pavement of this region was composed of heavy 
masonry, and here and there were numerous iron trap 
doors which opened to the vaults that lay deeper down in 
the earth, each of which was secured by stout bars and locks. 
One of these was opened, and then the soldiers prepared to 
force Gio to descend by means of a ladder which had been 
lowered for that purpose. 

44 Fear not that I shall resist you,” said the armorer, as 
he observed their preparatory demonstrations. 44 The king’s 
dungeons have no fear for me.” 

The soldiers stepped back with a feeling somewhat akin 
to awe, and with an unfaltering step Gio placed his foot 
upon the ladder and descended. Then the ladder was drawn 
up, and the door shut, bolted and locked. 

The dungeon into which the armorer was thus cast was 
small and damp, and all the light and air it received was 
from perforations in the iron door above; but even those 
admitted scarcely a beam of light into the cell, though on 
looking up one could see the dim specks in the door when 
night had begun to creep around. There was no food, no 
water in the place ; but that might have been brought anon. 
The couch upon which a prisoner might rest his limbs was a 
wooden bench, without even straw to relieve its hardness. 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


47 


As soon as the sound of the soldiers’ footsteps had died 
away in the distance, Gio took from a bag he wore about his 
neck a small iron tube, open at one end, and within which 
worked an air-tight piston. At the end of this piston was 
an indenture, and haying broken from a piece of light punk 
a quantity sufficient for his purpose, he placed it in the said 
indenture, and then inserting the piston into the tube he 
drove it home with such force that the combustible was 
immediately ignited. As soon as this was accomplished, 
the prisoner produced a small waxen taper, and ere long he 
had a light. 

It was some time past meridian when Gio was consigned 
to his dungeon, and as time crept slowly on he sat there 
upon the rough bench, with his light beside him, fashioning 
small bits of wire into a sort of mail for the neck and breast. 
There was not the slightest uneasiness manifested upon his 
countenance, but, on the contrary, he appeared as happy and 
unconcerned as though he had been by the side of his own 
forge. 

“Ah, Mapen,” he murmured to himself, as he twisted 
piece after piece of the wire, one within the other, “ how 
little dream you of the powers that dwell on earth. Kings 
may glory in a crown, and they may wield the power it 
bestows, but they must beware of other powers more mighty 
than theirs. Ah, upon what flimsy tenure hangs the power 
of man! and especially of kings! Mapen where is thy 
master, Xerxes ? He is safer than thou. He has fallen — 
thou art to fall. Death is thy monarch, and he will take thy 
tribute when he likes. Even now there is one in Tyre 
mightier than thou, for there dwells in the temple one 
whose mind is his sceptre. Ah, King Mapen, beware the 
oracle! ” 

Something like a smile passed over Gio’s face as he spoke, 
but it was so deep that it might have passed for a frown. 
Still he worked on, ever and anon casting his eyes up 
towards the iron door to observe the dim, star-like specks 
that the daylight formed there. 


48 


THE ARMORER OP TYRE. 


Minutes lengthened into hours, and hours began to mul- 
tiply themselves, until at length the light spots in the door 
began to disappear, and soon they were all gone. Then Gio 
knew that night had fallen over the city. Half an hour more 
passed, and at the end of that time he placed his work in his 
bosom, and began to pace to and fro across his narrow 
quarters. Another half hour flew by, and the armorer 
stopped more often in his walk, and listened more anx- 
iously; still no signs of uneasiness were apparent. His taper 
had burned nearly down to its socket, and he was upon the 
point of lighting another one, when a slight sound from the 
large apartment overhead caught his ear. He listened, and 
distinctly made out footsteps, which seemed to be traversing 
as if on an errand of search. Ere long the steps approached 
the door of the armorer’s dungeon, and the glimmerings of 
a light beamed faintly through the small perforations. 

“ Gio,” said a voice from above, in anxious tones. 

“ I’m here,” returned the armorer. 

“ Good! ” exclaimed the person from above, and the next 
moment a key was heard to turn in the lock that confined 
one of the bolts to its place. Then another lock was cast 
loose, and another bolt thrown back, and then the iron door 
was slowly lifted. 

The armorer blew out his flickering taper, and as he turned 
from the bench the ladder was lowered into the cell, and 
soon he stood face to face with his deliverer. 

“ I thought I should never find you,” said the latter, as he 
shut back the door and replaced the bolts. 

“ ’Tis soon enough, Balbec,” returned Gio, as he waited 
for the former to relock the bolts. 

The new-comer was indeed Balbec, the priest of the 
temple; but instead of the light dress in which we saw him 
before, he now wore a mantle and coif of dark stuff, which 
rendered his form less perceptible in the darkness. 

“ Have you seen Strato yet ? ” continued Gio, as Balbec 
arose from his work. 

“ Ho — I have left that for you.” 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


49 


“ ’Tis well — I’ll see him to-night.” 

“ ’Tis best you should; but you must use discretion, for 
the king may have his eyes upon him, and we had better 
not have too much work upon our hands. Though we have 
the power, yet we must use it moderately, nor must you 
subject yourself to any more such narrow chances as that 
which you run last night.” 

“ Under the same circumstances I might be obliged to,” 
returned Gio. 

“ Certainly — but avoid them if you can.” 

As Balbec spoke he led the way up the stairs at the 
corner of the building, but instead of passing across the 
piazza, he unlocked a small door that opened to a rear 
garden, stepped out, and then relocking the door after him, 
he passed on to where a small stream ran under the wall, 
and here, without difficulty, they both gained the open space 
beyond. Once in the street they separated — the priest 
taking the way to the great temple of Hercules, while the 
armorer sought the dwelling of Strato. 

Gio walked slowly along, meditating as he went, and occa- 
sionally his thoughts took to themselves words, and were 
borne away upon the breeze. Half the contemplated dis- 
tance of his travel had he gained, when his steps were 
arrested by a party of the king’s soldiers just coming up 
from a narrow street to the right, and a moment’s observa- 
tion showed him that they bore with them two prisoners, 
both of whom were begging most piteously to be released. 
Gio trusted that none of the party knew of his arrest, so he 
made bold to step over and ascertain what had transpired. 

“ What is the matter? ” asked the armorer, as he came up 
to the spot. 

The soldiers stopped, and the officer who led them— one 
of the king’s base tools — insultingly replied: — 

“ Get about your business, sirrah. These are two dogs 
that have been caught breaking the royal laws.” 

“ And what laws have they broken ? ” 

“It matters not.” 

4 


60 


THE ARMORER OP TYRE. 


“ We have broken no laws,” quickly exclaimed one of the 
young prisoners. “ We were only passing home from our 
day’s labor.” 

u And is not that trampling upon the royal authority, 
to be in the street at this time of night ? The king has 
especially ordered that when we find two or more people 
together in the streets after a seasonable hour, we shall 
arrest them as conspirators. There is some trouble brew- 
ing, and Mapen is determined to stop it.” 

As the officer said this, he would have passed on, but 
Gio detained him. 

“ You said the king did not allow the people to congregate 
in the streets at night, I think ? ” 

“ Yes,” returned the officer with a peremptory expression. 
“ And what are those whom you can even now hear 
brawling at the next turn ? ” 

“ They are some of our young nobility.” 

“Nobility!” iterated Gio, with the utmost sarcasm. 
“ And so our honest laborers — those who produce by the 
sweat of their brows the food and raiment that nourishes 
and covers royalty and nobility — must be treated like dogs. 
Tell me, what will the king do with these two young men, 
think you ? ” 

“ Perhaps hang them ? ” 

“ No, no — he dares not do that,” uttered the armorer, 
unable to repress a shudder at the thought that such might 
be a truth. “ The king will not punish his subjects for 
what they could not avoid.” 

“ Cease your babbling, or you may come in for the same 
chance,” said the officer. u If there be rebellion in Tyre, 
as the king suspects, I doubt not that you have a hand in 
it, for I think I heard it whispered this afternoon that 
Mapen had ordered you to be watched, at any rate.” 

“ Ha, ha, you didn’t hear half the truth.” 

“ What further ? ” asked the officer, not a little surprised 
at the armorer’s manner, even though he affected to hold 
him in contempt. 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


51 


“ No matter. If you must take those two helpless youths 
simply because they chanced to be together in the street 
after dark, then do so; but when you make your report to the 
king, tell him that for every deed of tyranny like this, he 
shall surely be called to an account.” 

“We are innocent of all wrong, indeed we are,” uttered 
one of the prisoners, in an imploring tone. u We could not 
leave our work quicker.” 

“ Then why didn’t you stay till morning ? ” roughly asked 
the officer. 

“ We had no food in our workshop.” 

“ Then you had better have starved. But come, for I’ve 
no time to waste. And as for you,” continued the officer, 
turning to Gio, “ the king shall know of your hints, and 
your head may keep company with these.” 

“ Villain, and minion of a greater villain!” pronounced 
the armorer, in a calm, deep tone; “beware, that the rod 
your king is preparing for the people of Tyre, falls not upon 
his own back. He who speaks knows what he says.” 

Gio waited to hear no reply, but quickly turning away he 
strode from the place, and when he once more gained the 
other side of the street, his steps were quicker and more 
nervous, and he seemed much moved. Short, broken sen- 
tences fell from his lips, his hands were clutched with a 
powerful grip, and once or twice he turned his gaze back 
upon the house he had left. 

The moon had just risen, and though her silvery beams 
fell not yet into the streets, yet she gave considerable light 
by her bright reflection, and Gio kept nearer in under the 
shade of the buildings. Numerous squads of dissipated 
young lords and merchants were abroad in the city, making 
the air infectious with their vulgarity and profaneness, and 
many were the bitter shades that passed over the armorer’s 
face as their hootings fell upon his ears. Several times he 
turned out of his way to avoid them, for he desired not to 
be mixed up in any broil, and well he knew that an humble 
artisan would not escape their impudent notice. 

4 


52 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


Sad indeed were the affairs of Tyre at this time. The 
great mass of the population were hard-working people, 
whose labor was called upon to satisfy the demands of a 
tyrannizing and overbearing nobility. To be laboring people 
and even to be poor they could well have borne, for they 
expected nothing belter; but to be the mere footballs of a 
selfish aristocracy — to have the fruits of their labor wrenched 
from them to support their superiors in idleness, galled 
them to the quick, and the more, because they could not 
help themselves. They knew that they were citizens of 
Tyre, and yet they saw that they were gradually, but surety, 
losing all the privileges thereto belonging. 

Wealth had poured in upon the island city, and power had 
become hers; but all this was in the hands of a few, and 
that few had become self-willed and arrogant. In vain had 
the Herculean oracle warned them of the sure punishment 
of their iniquities, and in vain had the people pleaded for a 
redress of their wrongs. The king and the nobles were 
given over to their wickedness, and though they sometimes 
feared from the indignation of their subjects, and had even 
taken the most stringent measures to prevent them from 
holding any sort of meetings, yet they knew not the dark 
cloud that was lowering above them. 


THE ARMORER OP TYRE. 


53 


CHAPTER VIII. 

STRATO. 

Withest a luxuriously furnished apartment of a house 
situated near the grand bazaar, sat a young man of twenty- 
five years of age. He was strikingly handsome, and his 
features, which were cast in the purest mould, combined a 
vast amount of quick-witted intelligence with singular beauty. 
His hair was a little darker than flaxen, his eyes blue, large 
and almost dreamy in their expression, but yet capable of 
sparkling and glowing under excitement. In stature he was 
of fair size, though he possessed few of those physical points 
that mark the powerful man. Kindness lurked in every 
feature of his face, and right good-will beamed from his eyes 
and lay rivetted in active life about his finely chiseled lips. 

Such was young Strato, a merchant of Tyre, whose father 
had been dead little over a year, and who had inherited vast 
wealth in a manner that became the noble heart he pos- 
sessed. At the present time he was sad and gloomy, and 
though he held in his hand a volume of vellum, written in 
Persian character, yet he' read it not. The golden lamp that 
stood upon the table by his side shed its light for him to no 
purpose, for he regarded not its beams. 

While thus he sat, the door of his dwelling was unceremo- 
niously opened, and as he started up from his deep reverie, 
he encountered the gaze of the armorer. 

“ Ah, Gio,” he uttered, as he tossed the volume upon the 
table and sprang forward, “ you are the man above all others 
I would see.” 

“ Then, dear master, I am in season,” returned Gio, as he 
shook the proffered hand with a joyful look. 

“ Not master, Gio.” 


54 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


“You are more my true master now than when I was 
your servant, Strato, for I will risk even life for you now 
that I am free to obey you.” 

“ I thank you, and I may be able to reward you; but a 
fearful calamity has befallen me, Gio, and I would have you 
help me.” 

“ Is it so fearful, then ? ” 

“Yes, yes — they have stolen away my beloved Marina.” 
“ Who, think you, has taken her? ” 

“ The king, perhaps, for he has stolen her father, and 
upon my life I believe the poor old man is murdered. O 
Gio, can you ferret out this king ? ” 

“ The prince, good Strato, went to Kison Ludim’s house, 
and by force he would have dragged Marina to the palace.” 
“ Oh, the villian! ” 

“ Hold. He did not drag her there, however, for she fled, 
and took refuge with me.” 

“ And you saved her ? Oh, say that you did, Gio.” 

“ I did. I bearded the prince, and drove back his hire- 
lings from my shop; then I conducted the fair girl to a place 
of safety; and ’twas to tell you this that I came here now.” 
“ May the great God above all gods bless thee, Gio,” 
ejaculated Strato, as he again grasped his friend’s hand. 
“ You will conduct her to me, will you not? ” 

“ I will conduct you to her, for she must not return to 
the city at present.” 

“ Why not ? ” cried the young man, in surprise. “ Surely 
beneath my roof none would dare to touch her.” 

“ You know not what a king dares to do when he is 
driven to it. Mapen desires Marina as a wife for his son, 
and you may rest assured that he will risk even his life to 
gain that end. She cannot return to Tyre, but I promised 
her that you should visit her in her place of retreat.” 

“ Gio,” said the young man, with sudden energy, “ what 
means this ? To what a pass are we coming when the rights 
of the citizens are thus trampled upon ? What phantasy is 
this that has seized upon the mind of the king ? ” 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


55 


“ ’Tis simply that the prince must have to wife the fair 
Marina.’ ’ 

“ And by the eternal gods! he shall never have her,” cried 
Strato, starting quickly across the apartment, and then 
turning and settling into his seat. 

“ So, too, have I sworn,” uttered Gio. 

“But why is this sudden freak of the king’s?” asked 
Strato. “ Upon what does he found his claim? He asked 
of Kison Ludim the hand of his daughter for the prince, and 
the old noble refused him. Then Ludim was sent off on an 
embassy to Sidon, and he was destroyed — the king says 
accidentally. Of that he knows best. But why should the 
monarch press the suit ? Gio, what is the mystery ? ” 

“ I freely confess, Strato, that I know the secret of the 
king’s strange desire on this point, but when I tell thee that 
I am under an oath not to reveal it, I know you will not 
question me further. But one thing I can assure you: he 
shall be thwarted.” 

“Well,” returned the young man, after ’gazing for a 
moment into the face of the armorer in silence, during 
which a variety of shades passed over his features, “ I will 
not urge you beyond your entire willingness; but yet ’tis 
strange — ’tis unaccountable.” 

“ So are there other things in Tyre which are strange,” 
said Gio, in peculiar cadence, “ Strato, to-night, as I came 
hither, I met some of the king’s soldiers, and they were 
roughly dragging to prison two Tyrian youths. Now what 
heinous crime think you they had committed ? ” 

“ I cannot guess.” 

“ I will tell you. They had been later than usual at their 
work. One of them I know. He supports by his toil an 
aged mother and sister. They were passing home late at 
night, and for this they were thrown into prison. The king 
fears that a crushed people may plot against him, and as 
another mark of his cruelty he had ordered that none of them 
shall meet in the streets after dark upon pain of death. So 
these innocent youths may die by the executioner’s hand.” 


56 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


“ Oh, that is horrible, Gio — horrible! ” cried Strato, shud- 
dering at the picture thus drawn. 

“Ay, it is horrible ; but do you think the scene ends here? 
No I All Tyre is cankered with such foul blotches. The 
very atmosphere is diseased, and breeds mora' pestilence! 
Can such a state of things exist ? The people have rights 
as well as the nobles and the king, and each alike should 
serve some good purpose. From the monarch on his throne 
to the veriest beggar in the street, all, all must serve some- 
thing, and all, too, are men, fashioned after the image of 
the God of all gods, and manhood must be made manifest. 
If the subjects of the king were made to be trodden in the 
dust like brutes, then why were they created with hopes and 
fears, with affections and loves? and why, too, did a wise 
God give them human feelings ? Every man owes allegiance 
to the government, but when government runs into bloody 
riot, and feeds itself on death and destruction, then such 
allegiance is no longer due. Dissipation and debauchery 
stalk through the streets like gaunt spectres, while innocence 
and virtue must tremble and hide their heads I Strato, do I 
not speak truly ? ” 

“ Alas! Gio, you do,” returned the young man, while he 
regarded the excited armorer with feelings of the deepest 
awe. “That which you speak is too true; but how, how 
can it be helped? ” 

“ Strato,” returned the armorer, his eyes sparkling more 
brilliantly, and his chest heaving with increased emotion, 
but in a tone fearfully low, “ I had a foul excrescence once 
grow upon my hand. It troubled me. Wouldst thou know 
how I rid myself of it ? I cut it off I ” 

Strato half started from his seat, and gazed earnestly, 
fixedly, into Gio’s face. 

“ What mean you ? ” he at length asked, at the same time 
drawing a long breath. 

“ Did you ever hear of a man’s treading upon an asp ? ” 
asked Gio, in return. 

“ Yes.” 


THE ARMORER OP TYRE. 


67 


“ What did the reptile do ? ” 

“ It stung him.” 

“ And yet, Strato, how insignificant a thing is an asp when 
compared with man! Was not the asp’s sting fatal ? ” 

“ Yes.” 

“ Then never tread upon one! ” 

“There is some deep meaning beneath all this, Gio. 
What is it ? ” 

“ Canst thou not see it ? ” 

“No.” 

“ Look through the city, and see how matters stand.” 

“ I have done it often.” 

“I’ll open the picture further,” said the armorer, with 
one of his peculiar looks. “ Years ago the Tyrian nobles 
began to amass wealth, and they began to grow indolent. 
More luxuries were necessary to sustain them in their dissi- 
pations. Wealth still continued to flow into their coffers, 
and they became more and more avaricious. With wealth 
and ease came arrogance and domination, and at length 
downright cruelty marked their course. Now the people of 
Tyre have the power to stop the flood, for they can sweep 
their tyrants from the earth. Dost thou understand me ? ” 
“ Great God! Gio,” ejaculated Strato, with a shudder, 
“ the people will not rise ? ” 

“ Would you, Strato, were you in their place ? ” 

The young man spoke not, for the fearful truth of Gio’s 
meaning flashed upon his mind. He saw now what he had 
never seen before, and he saw, too, how plain was the 
solution of the problem. 

“ 1 see you understand me,” continued Gio, after a pause. 
“But you have nothing to fear; for were all our wealthy 
nobles like you, the people would spill the last drop of their 
blood in their service and defence.” 

“ But, O Gio! this thing will not happen, will it ? ” 

“I know not,” returned the freedman, “but yet I fear 
that Tyre is preparing a scourge that shall lash herself even 
unto death. Time, however, will reveal it all.” 


68 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


J 

“ I see, I see,” murmured the young man to himself, 
bending his head in thought. “ The truth comes upon me 
now. Are there movements towards an insurrection ? ” 

“ Only such as the king and the nobles are themselves 
forcing on. If the oppressed people do rise, it will be 
almost spontaneously.” 

“ May the gods avert such a fate from our city, for the 
results would be terrible! ” 

“Not more so than the present aspects of our horizon. 
Hark! Hear you that foul brawling ? ” 

“ Yes,” returned Strato, as the sounds of loud voices in 
high discord were borne along upon the night air. 

“ Would it be terrible to have such men as these removed 
from the city ? ” asked the armorer. 

“ Perhaps they deserve it,” returned Strato, in a sort of 
forced tone. 

“ Then let them beware lest they receive their deserts. 
But enough of that. I have spoken to you as I would have 
spoken to no other noble in Tyre. Now to Marina. You 
may go to her to-morrow night, if you wish.” 

“ Of course I wish it,” answered Strato, with sudden ani- 
mation. “ But where is she ? ” 

“ Her retreat is among the ruins of the old city.” 

“ In so dreary a place ? ” 

“ She has comfortable quarters, as you shall see when you 
go there.” 

“ Well, and at what time shall we go? ” 

“ Say an hour earlier than this.” 

“ Then I will be ready. But,” continued the young man, 
with a slight show of apprehension, “ may there not be diffi- 
culty, after what has happened, in passing the gates ? ” 

“ No, I can easily assume a disguise, and with you there 
will be no difficulty. I shall pass out as one of your attend- 
ants, and they will think you are going on board some of 
the vessels in the harbor.” 

“ Then be it to-morrow night,” said the young man. 


THE ARMORER OP .TYRE. 


59 


CHAPTER m 

THE CONSPIRATORS. 

The heavy gong that hung upon the turret of one of the 
northern donjons of the fortifications sounded heavily upon 
the air, announcing the hour of midnight. The moon has 
risen high in the heavens, and now shed its light in a silvery 
flood over the city of Tyre. The noise of revelry was 
hushed, or, if it broke upon the air at all, it was from within 
doors. For half an hour the tramp of soldiers sounded 
upon the walks, as they went to and returned from their 
posts, and then all was quiet. 

Along beneath the walls of the buildings that faced the 
grand bazaar moved a dusky figure, with slow and steal ty 
steps, towards the eastern part of the city. Soon there came 
another, and then another, moving with the same cat-like 
tread, and studiously keeping within the deepest shade. In 
other parts of the city, too, this same thing appeared. Along 
the walls of the palace, the temple, and through most of the 
streets, crept these dim spectres, and all towards one point. 
If they met they spoke not, nor did they seem to note 
anything about them, only avoiding observation. 

It was a strange sight, these dark ghosts, thus moving 
through the quiet avenues of the city, and one to have seen 
them might have supposed they possessed only the powers 
of slow and silent locomotion, or that they were so many 
mutes crawling away into the darkness. 

Near the south-eastern angle of the city walls was a rocky, 
barren spot, upon the inner edge of which, where the soil 
was richer, grew a thick grove of cypress trees. It was a 
quiet, solemn place, moved only to life by the song of the 
dashing waves, and the low murmurings of the breeze that 


60 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


played among the cypress boughs. Towards this spot moved 
the seeming phantoms of the hour. One by one they passed 
through the grove, and stood within the shade of the trees. 
Ere long an hundred of them had thus met, and as the 
moonbeams now fall upon their faces, we can see that they 
are all Tyrian artisans and laborers. 

For several minutes after they were thus collected not a 
word was spoken, but anxiously they regarded each other, 
and occasionally furtive glances were turned back towards 
the sleeping city; but the rocks and the trees hid them, and 
a sense of safety put all their fears to rest. Those were firm 
and stalwart men, and upon their countenances dwelt the 
unmistakable marks of unalterable resolution. They stood 
firm as posts, and almost they appeared as if awaiting the 
battle shock. Their hands were either clutched nervously 
together, or folded across their breasts like iron cross-bars, 
while from beneath their mantles gleamed many a sharp, 
bright blade. 

At length one of their number, a middle-aged man, towards 
whom all eyes were turned, waved his hand in the air. 

“ Listen! ” whispered the people. “ Uz would speak to 
us.” 

“ Brothers,” said Uz, in a low tone, but which yet reached 
all ears, “ have you done your duty ? ” 

u Yes,” replied they all. 

u Have you found a recreant among the poor, oppressed 
people of Tyre ? ” 

“ Ho, not one,” responded the crowd. 

“ Then our cruel rulers shall fall. Listen, brothers. We 
will do nothing rashly, nor out of season; but the point has 
come, and it has been driven home to our hearts. Where is 
the man among ye that would longer endure the foul wrongs 
that are heaped upon us ? Every man, if he labor diligently 
for himself and his fellows, is entitled to a home. And 
what makes a home ? Is it not the sacredness of the affec- 
tions that we have a right to find there ? What would you 
think of a garden that had no flowers, or a fieul that bore 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


61 


no corn ? The same is a home without flowers of affection, 
and the bread of common comfort. Look at our homes, if 
homes ye can call them, and tell me what ye see there? 
Are not the hard earnings of our hands wrenched from us, 
and are not our wives and children starving for the want of 
the proceeds of those earnings ? Are we not forced to sup- 
port a government that only gives us misery and degradation ? 
But even this we might bear were it not that blacker still is 
the night that grows upon us. Our blood is but as water, 
and it flows as freely at the will of the base men who rule 
us. Even the public streets, and the fresh air that God has 
given us, are interdicted to us after the labors of the day 
are closed. Ye gods! my brothers, think of it! ” 

A low murmur ran through the assembly, and they swayed 
to and fro beneath the workings of the intense passion that 
had been thus aroused. 

u Think of it I ” continued Uz, the veins beneath his pure 
white skin swelling as though they would burst. “ Our 
daughters — those fair flowers of our domestic nurseries — and 
even our wives, are not safe from the infernal lusts of the 
tyrants! Oh, thou great God who rulest above all gods, and 
has it come to this! Dishonor, ten thousand times worse 
than death, riots upon our hearthstones, and cankers in our 
social system. Shall we bear it longer ? ” 

One long, simultaneous u No! ” burst from the assembled 
people. Uz leaped down from the small rock upon which 
he had been standing; and closely, earnestly, his brothers 
gathered about him. 

“ Down, down upon your knees! ” he cried. 

In one solid mass those wrong-seared men knelt about 
their leader and clasped their hands towards heaven. Their 
countenances were lighted up by the beams of the moon, 
and every lineament could be traced in its workings. Fear- 
ful were the purposes that lay imaged there, and fearfully 
strange was the story of wrong that had formed purposes in 
their bosoms. 

“ By the Great God above all gods, and by the immortal 


62 


/, « 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 

and all-powerful Hercules, we most solemnly swear, that 
vengeance shall be ours. That we will not rest from our 
earnest labors till our tyrant oppressors are laid beneath our 
feet! Swear! ” 

“ We swear! ” 

“ And eternal perdition seize upon him who dares waver 
in his purpose.” 

“Amen!” responded the people, and then, following 
their leader’s movements, they rose to their feet. 

“ Where is Gaba ? ” asked Uz. 

“Here,” returned a powerful man, stepping forth from 
amongst the rest. 

“ Gaba,” continued Uz, “ have you had opportunity to 
prosecute your share of our business yet ? ” 

“Yes, I have gained more than I expected. In my 
quarter there are over two thousand ready men, and each 
one can be armed at a moment’s notice. I have moved 
carefully, and I know my ground.” 

“ Well, good Gaba. And thou, Alzac, how hast thou suc- 
ceeded? ” 

“ Equally as well,” returned another, stepping forth by the 
side of Gaba. “ There be some among the artisans in my 
quarter who will not rise against their own noble neighbors, 
but they will not betray us.” 

“ Ha, and how many such are there ? ” 

“ Only a few. Some dozen, or so.” 

“ Then, brothers, against that we’ll raise no objection. If 
there be a noble who can command the love of honest men, 
then that noble is not such as those against whom we war. 

Let them live, for there will be but few such in Tyre. We 
strike not for the sake of blood, but that our own blood may 
be spared to us, and when we do strike, it shall be with a 
hand so firm that the tyrant shall not have time to quake ere 
the stroke fall upon his head.” 

“ Uz,” asked Alzac, “ will Gio, the armorer, join us, think 
you ? ” 

“ Whether he joins us or not,” returns Uz, “he will be 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


63 


faithful to us. Have you not heard how, on the night last 
past, he slew seven of the king’s hirelings — and one of them 
in the very face of the prince ? ” 

“ No, no, no, tell us of it,” cried a dozen voices. 

Uz explained the matter as best he could, and though he 
knew not all, yet his recital was sufficient to startle his 
hearers with the wildest enthusiasm. He knew that Gio had 
given protection to some one against the prince, and that he 
had maintained that protection against those whom the king 
himself had sent to the rescue. 

“ Then Gio is surely with us,” said Alzac, as Uz concluded. 

“ He is,” rejoined Uz; “ but let us not draw him into our 
plans at present, for if I am not mistaken he will operate 
best alone.” 

“ Uz is right,” rejoined Gaba, and to this idea all signified 
their assent. 

“ Now,” said Uz, as he once more stepped upon the small 
rock where he had before stood, “ let us well understand 
what we are about, and then we will separate. Remember, 
my brothers, our cause is a just one, and the wrongs of years 
are burning upon our heads. Be silent now, and firm, 
frighten not the lion from his lair till we are ready to strike ; 
and when we are ready, be firm enough to shrink not from 
his roar. Watch ye one another, and let each feel that the 
eyes of the other are on him. He who dares think of betray- 
ing our cause will live not to lisp it. If you find one of our 
brothers that shrinks from the work through cowardice, 
point out to him the iron heel that tramples him in the dust, 
and bid him steel himself to the rescue. Once more: we 
are firm and true, even unto death. Swear! ” 

. “ We swear! ” responded all. 

“Now watch for the summons to our next meeting, and 
until then, the gods speed our cause.” 

As Uz thus spoke he turned towards the cypress grove 
and passed through. One after another, the others followed 
him, and as they approached the city they seperated, each 
going his own way and alone. With the same stealthy steps 


64 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


that had marked their departure did they creep along the 
streets towards their homes, gliding through the deep shades 
of the building like specters. 

Those men looked harmless enough as they silently 
threaded their way, but their hearts were burning with a 
volcanic fire, which, though it slumbered now, was ere long 
to burst madly forth! 


CHAPTER X 

THE DISCOVERY, AND THE FRUITLESS MISSION. 

On the next morning, King Mapen entered his divan at the 
usual hour, and shortly afterwards he was joined by the 
prince. The first thing the king did after saluting his son, 
was to send for the jailor. 

“ I’ve a new plan in my head,” said Mapen, after the 
attendant had gone on his errand. 

“ Ah,” uttered the prince. 

“ Yes, and I think it’s a good one.” 

“ What is its subject? ” 

“ The armorer.” 

“ Good. What is it?” 

“ I’ll starve his secret from him,” returned the king, with 
sparkling eyes. “ He is strong and powerful now, and that 
makes him proud; but just let him waste away beneath 
gaunt famine, and I think ’twill take down his stubbornness 
somewhat.” 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


05 


“ Glorious !” ejaculated Phalis. “He will be a more 
stubborn man than I take him for, if he can stand out long 
against such a course. Not a week certainly.” 

“No, not over half of it, for he shall parch with thirst, 
too.” 

“ Then may fortune crown our efforts, and let me once get 
my eyes on the fair damsel again and she shall not escape 
me. Pshaw! I was a fool to lose her so easily before, but 
I had no thoughts of her running so nimbly.” 

“ And you were foolish, too,” added the king, “ that you 
did not push your search in the armorer’s house, for you 
might have obtained javelins and slain him at a distance.” 
“Yes, but such a squad of people began to collect about 
the door, that the matter took a serious turn.” 

“We must hang a score or two of the dogs upon the trees,” 
muttered the king, as a dark scowl disfigured his face. 

“ Would that I had the hanging of the whole of them,” 
kindly offered the prince, with an impatient movement. 

“ Ah, here comes the jailor,” uttered Mapen, as that 
functionary made his appearance. 

“ Valero,” he continued, “ have you seen Gio this morn- 
ing?” 

“ No, sire.” 

“ You knew he was confined ? ” 

“Yes; Ebo told me last night.” 

“ Is his dungeon strong ? ” 

“ The strongest in Tyre. Hercules himself, ere he be- 
came immortal, might have beat its walls in vain.” 

“ Good. See you, now, that he has no food nor drink; and 
you may go to him and tell him from the king, that he will 
parch and starve there till he gives me the intelligence I 
seek; and look ye, Valero, keep a strict watch over him. Go 
tell him this now, and if he relents, call upon me with the 
information.” 

The jailor bowed and withdrew. 

“ I hope the fellow will not die till we find the daughter of 
Kison Eudim,” said the prince, thoughtfully. 

5 * 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


06 

“If he does, we have still another chance,” returned the 

king. “Our spies will lay upon the track of young Strato.” 

“ Good— -so thev will.” 

«/ 

For five or ten minutes the king and prince held a rambling 
conversation upon various topics, and just as the latter was 
enlarging upon the necessity of allowing the rich merchants 
and their sons all the power and privileges they wanted, the 
jailor hurriedly re-entered the apartment. His face was 
flushed by an unwonted excitement, and he trembled at every 
joint. 

“How now?” exclaimed the king, somewhat startled by 
the officer’s manner. 

“The prisoner, sire,” stammered Valero, turning pale as 
death. 

“ What prisoner ? Who ? ” 

“ Gio.” 

“ Ha, and what of him ? Speak! What of Gio? ” 

The king sprang forward as he spoke, and grasped Valero 
by the arm. 

“ Tell me! ” he cried again. 

“ He’s gone, sire! ” 

“Gonel” 

“Yes, sire — escaped! ” 

“Escaped! Gio escaped! ” 

“ He has, indeed.” 

“How, by all the gods of both worlds!” shouted the 
monarch, nearly bursting with rage. “ If this be true, I’ll — 
I’ll — But no, no, no, Valero, you went to the wrong 
dungeon. Go again, and search. The armorer could not 
have broken out.” 

“ He did not break out, sire; for the door of the dungeon 
was found securely locked.” 

“ Then why is this ? Gio’s not gonel ” 

“ Indeed he is, sire.” 

“ Have you searched all the dungeons ? ” 

“ Ho, sire, for Ebo knows well which one the prisoner was 
placed in.” 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


67 


u Then how, in the name of Pluto’s hosts, got he out ? ” 
urged the king, half frantic with the excitement of this 
startling intelligence. 

“He must have been let out by some one who gained 
access to the keys,” returned the jailor, in trembling accents. 
“ And where were the keys ? ” 

“ In my own apartment. Ebo returned them to me last 
night, aud I hung them up as usual in their proper place.” 

“ Then there are traitors in the palace I ” shouted the 
monarches he started upon one of his nervous walks across 
the apartment. “You found the keys this morning, 
slave ? ” 

“ Yes, sire, where I left them.” 

For three minutes the enraged, foiled monarch walked up 
aud down the place, with his hands clutched within the 
bosom of his mantle, while his teeth grated together like files, 
and his eyes rolled with perfect wildness. 

“ Valero,” he uttered, at length, stopping in his walk, and 
shaking his clenched fist in the face of his officer, “ yesterday 
I told Ebo I would hold him responsible for the safe keeping 
of this armorer of Tyre. Kow I’ll hold both your lives till 
you find me the traitor who has done this thing, and if you 
find him not, your heads shall answer for it.” 

“ But, sire ” 

“ No buts, slavel I hold you as I’ve said. Go and call Ebo, 

and search the dungeons through, for Gio may yet ” 

Mapen did not finish his sentence, for at that moment a 
soldier came rushing into the divan, all covered with dust 
and sweat. 

u Now, knave, what dire disease of affairs brings you in 
such shape ? ” cried the monarch. 

“ This morning, your majesty,” breathlessly uttered the 
soldier, u we saw him whom we took to the dungeon yester- 
day, busily at work in his shop.” 

“ Is’t Gio of whom you speak ? ” 
u The same, sire.” 

“ Then is the very air laden with disaster, and men breathe 


5 


68 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


it. Gio escaped I Gio at work in his shop! Dog! slave! is’t 
true, what you say ? ” 

“ I saw it with my own eyes, sire.” 

“ Then call forth the centurion’s full host, and take the 
dog of an armorer ” 

“ Hold, father,” interrupted the prince, plucking his 
parent by the sleeve. “ Let’s consider of this matter.” 
u JSTo, not a moment,” angrily uttered Mapen, shaking off 
his son’s hold. u Start you, sirrah, and call up the centurion 
of the east guard. Bid him hasten his men into service, and 
then report himself to me. Were there ten thousand reasons 
why I should not take off the villain’s head, I’d cast them all 
aside and have it. Phalis, attend you the soldiers, and ex- 
pedite this business.” 

The prince knew his father too well to stop for further 
argument, and without remark he followed the soldier from 
the royal presence. It took but a short time to call the 
centurion’s men to a state for duty, and ten minutes from 
the time of the prince’s departure the commander was in 
the presence of his king. 

“Are you the centurion?” asked Mapen, as the officer 
entered the divan. 

“ I am, sire,” returned he, not a little surprised that the 
monarch should have asked such a question, seeing that he 
had been in attendance upon the king for years. 
u Do you know where Gio, the armorer, lives ? ” 

“ I know the place well.” 

“ Then bring him before me.” 
u And if he resist ? ” 

u Then bring him dead! ” exclaimed the king, in fiery 
accents. “ But mind you that I see him within this 
hour.” 

“ If he be in his shoj), .sire, your commands shall be 
obeyed.” 

“ And if he be not in his shop, then find him. He cannot 
leave the city, for I have issued orders to the effect of 
keeping him in.” 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


69 


The centurion bowed low before his monarch, and, with a 
look of confident success, he withdrew. 

People wondered as they saw the king’s officer at the head 
of his guard, for they had not failed to notice the movement 
that had already been made; but they stopped to ask no 
questions, only watching the armed party as they moved 
quickly past, and then making such remarks with their 
neighbors as the circumstances naturally called up. 

The centurion made all possible haste in his expedition, 
and as he approached the armorer’s shop he heard the sound 
of the heavy hammer, and the sharp, clear ring of the anvil. 
He knew that Gio was at work, and for a moment he 
hesitated to consider whether any extra precautions were 
necessary. Ere he proceeded further he detached ten of his 
men and sent them around to guard the stairs that led down 
from the house-top at the end of the street, and having done 
this he proceeded at once to the door of the shop. 

The powerful armorer was there, busy at his anvil, and as 
he heard the tramp of many feet, he raised his head. A 
moment he regarded the centurion, and then quietly laying 
down his hammer he asked: 

“ What seek ye now ? ” 

“ I seek you.” 

“ Who wants me ? ” 

“ The king.” 

“ Immediately?” 

“ Yes.” 

u Then come and take me.” 

As Gio spoke, he sprang through the small rear door, which 
he closed after him. The officer uttered an exclamation of 
anger as he saw this movement, and quickly darting forward, 
he raised the latch and attempted to push open the door, 
but it resisted his efforts. 

“Ho, boy,” he exclaimed to Abal; “ how is this door 
fastened ? ” 

“ It shuts with a spring lock upon the inside, sir.” 
u Then give me the key.” 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


“ Gio has it.” 

The centurion stopped to hear no more, but seizing the 
heavy sledge that stood against the anvil, he dealt a blow 
upon the door with all his might, and he had the satisfaction, 
too, of seeing it burst from its bolt and fly open. In an 
instant he dropped the sledge and jumped through, followed 
by a score of his soldiers. It was but the work of a moment 
to clear the passage beyond and spring up the stairs; but on 
pushing open the door that next stood in his way, he started 
back in dismay upon beholding the venerable form of Balbcc, 
the priest of Hercules. 

“ Men of arms, what unseemly haste is this that drives 
thee so madly on ? ” asked the priest, as he calmly regarded 
the leader of the intruders. 

“ We seek Gio, the armorer,” breathlessly returned the 
centurion. “ The king has ordered it. If ye know whither 
he went, oh, tell us, for Mapen holds me to the task, and his 
displeasure will fall heavily upon my head.” 

“ If you would find him you must seek him,” said Balbec; 
“ and if your head is in danger then you had better haste, for 
Gio is not a man to be easily taken.” 

Thus speaking, the priest walked slowly out from the 
apartment, and the soldiers, trembling, stood one side to let 
him pass, for even the hem of Balbec’s garment they dared 
not sacrilegiously touch. 

The centurion instantly separated his men, and every nook 
and corner contiguous to the armorer’s dwelling was searched 
in vain. A messenger was hastily despatched to the spot 
where the stairs led down against the wall, and a dozen 
more were sent over the tops of the houses, but nowhere 
could Gio be found. Two hours did the soldiers hunt for 
their prey, and at the end of that time, with a sad, trembling 
heart, the centurion drew them together, and set out on his 
return to the palace. 

When Mapen heard of the officer’s failure, his rage knew 
no bounds. With a chilling oath he ordered the centurion 
to be thrown into confinement, and then he strode up and 


THE ARMORER OP TYRE. 


71 


down his divan as though he would have walked through 
the very marble walls that opposed him. 

“ Phalis,” said he, stammering in his hot haste, “ what — 
what shall be done ? ” 

“ What I would have told thee ere you sent the centurion 
on his errand,” returned the prince, in a persuasive tone. 

“ And what was that ? ” 

“ To let Gio go at large for the present, and watch him, 
and I think that between him and Strato we shall be sure to 
hit upon the Lady Marina.” 

“ ’Tis hard, ’tis hard, Phalis, thus to be bearded,” returned 
the king, in calmer tones, but yet with a deep spice of pain. 

“ I know it; but ’tis harder to lose Marina.” 

“ Good. You speak the truth, Phalis. It shall be done as 
you say; but yet, I’ll not brook another such movement 
from Gio, even though I tempt the very gods.” 

“ Then I’ll hie me and set the watch,” said the prince, 
as he passed out from his father’s presence. 

The king was left alone, and as the sound of his son’s 
footsteps died away in the distance, he sank back upon his 
throne. A single circumstance alone had given rise to all 
his disquietude, but yet ’twas enough to bow him down in 
fear and anguish. He forgot how many backs had groaned 
beneath his bondage — he thought not of the blood that had 
been spilled to appease his hot wrath — nor dwelt he upon the 
misery his own hand was sowing broadcast in the midst of 
human hearts. He only knew that danger threatened him- 
self and his son — that their interests were at stake, and it 
made him wretched. He thought not of rooting up the evil 
by humanity, but he thought to kill it by revenge. Mapen 
stands not alone in his mode of action I 




THE ARMORER OP TYKE. 


CHAPTER XI. 

THE LOVERS— THE FEARFUL DREAM. 

At the appointed hour Gio called upon Strato, but in such 
a guise that the young man started in surprise at what he 
supposed to be the entrance of a perfect stranger. The 
armorer’s disguise was the dress of a Cyprian sailor, and 
his face was covered by a thick beard. 

“ Don’t be frightened,” said Gio, smiling at the youug 
merchant’s mistake. 

“Indeed, Gio, but you fit your disguise well,” uttered 
Strato, as he rose and extended his hand. “None would 
know you thus.” 

u I think so myself. But come — prepare you now as soon 
as possible, for the moon will be up by the time we reach 
the coast, and I would be clear of the city under cover of the 
darkness.” 

Strato was speedy in his preparations, and ere long the two 
set out. The young man found no difficulty in passing 
through the gates, nor did the sentry think of questioning 
the supposed Cyprian. They passed along down the rocky 
pier that ran out into the harbor, and at the end of it, near 
where lay half a dozen vessels, they found a small boat 
which they cast loose from its fastenings, and then leaping 
into it they shoved off. 

Gio took the oars and plied himself to the task of the 
passage. Half the distance had been gained across the 
narrow straits, when the armorer raised his oars from the 
water, and bent his ear over the side of the boat, as if to 
listen. 

“ What now?” asked Strato, watching with considerable 
interest the movement of his companion. 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


13 


“ There is something on the water between here and the 
city,” returned Gio, still listening. 

“ It cannot be that we are followed,” fell from the young 
man’s lips, in tones of anxiety. 

“ I’m afraid we are.” 

“ But who could have seen us ? ” 

“ I know not,” returned Gio, as he once more dipped his 
oars into the water. “ But the king is wily, and he has, 
perhaps, had spies upon you. However, we have nothing to 
fear. We can reach the shore before they can overtake us.” 

The armorer was right in his belief, for he and Strato had 
leaped upon the sandy coast before the pursuing boat— if 
such it were — had come in sight, and starting off towards 
the south, they made all haste to get out of the way before 
the eyes of spies could reach them. 

Before the moon arose the two men had reached the tall 
column, and here, turning in among the ruins, they were 
safe from observation. Strato was somewhat puzzled when 
he saw his guide stop in front of the porphyry pedestal, but 
his wonder was changed to an almost incredulous astonish- 
ment when he saw the massive structure move from its 
foundations. 

“ Go down,” said Gio, as he threw back the slab that 
covered the entrance. 

The young man needed no second urging, for he saw the 
glimmer of the light which shot up from below, and with a 
quickly beating heart he descended the marble steps. The 
first object upon which his eyes rested was the fair Marina, 
and rushing forward, he clasped her to his bosom. Long 
did the fair girl hang upon the fond embrace that thus 
sustained her, and when she raised her eyes they were wet 
with tears of joy. 

“O Marina, thou sweetest flower of my soul, thanks be 
to the great God that I see thee once more,” ejaculated 
Strato, as he again pressed her in transport to his bosom. 

u If I had lost thee, how dark would have been the night 
of life.” 


74 


THE ARMORER OP TYRE. 


“ Thou hast not lost me, dear Strato,” returned Marina, as 
she drew her lover to a seat, where she threw her arms 
about his neck. u I have longed for this moment, but my 
heart, with all its love, had not pictured such happiness as 
this. To see thee, to lean upon thee, and to feel that I am 
vours! O, ’tis blessed indeed. ” 

“ Ay, Marina, and ’tis a bliss which I trust shall ever be 
ours. It must be ever ours, for I could not live without 
thee.” 

For a long hour those two fair beings sat there and told 
over again the story of their love. They had been intimate 
even from childhood > and while yet they were scarcely able 
to talk, had they been affianced by their parents. They had 
learned to live in the bright atmosphere of love, and each 
had ever endeavored to cultivate all those charms which could 
minister to the happiness of the other. 

The bond of union that drew those two souls within its 
folds was not a mere passion — a thing of sudden love — 
but a pure and holy flame of willing devotion at the shrine 
of loveliness and truth. Their love gave them joy, and 
gave them pride, for life itself was all bound up in the bright 
meshes. 

The hour flew too quickly by. Minutes seemed scarcely to 
have linked themselves together, when Gio said ’twas time 
to depart. 

“ Oh, cruel Gio,” murmured Marina, clinging more fondly 
to her lover, u you will not tear him from me yet.” 

“ We must go now, fair lady. You shall see him again; 
but long visits will excite suspicion, for Strato is under the 
eyes of spies.” 

“ One more half hour, good Gio,” urged the young man, 
in persuasive tones. 

“ No, no, Strato, not unless you would risk the safety of 
the lady.” 

“Well, well, Marina, then I must go,” said the young 
man, as he imprinted upon her lips one more fond kiss. 
“ But be of good cheer, for I shall come again.” 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


% 


“ You will bring him soon, will you not, Gio ? ” asked 
the fair girl, rising from her seat and laying her hand im- 
ploringly upon the armorer’s arm. 

“ Yes — perhaps on the third night from now.” 

Young Strato clasped Marina once more in his arms, and 
then he started to go. At the foot of the steps he turned to 
take one more look at the object of his love. She stood 
where he had left her, as calm and motionless as marble. 
Over her beautiful face there was spread a look of such 
painful anguish, such unspeakable melancholy, that he was 
himself half transfixed. 

“ Strato,” she murmured, “ farewell! ” 

“ What mean that look — that tone ? Speak, Marina,” cried 
the young man, springing back to her side. 

“ Farewell! ” she murmured again, in a tone that seemed 
to tear itself out from her very heart. 

“ Speak, Marina. What moved thee thus ? ” 

“ Dear Strato, blame me not that my heart fails me now; 
but there is a weight upon it I cannot avoid nor remove. If 

we meet again on earth ” 

“ — sh! Speak not so, dearest,” cried the young man, 
wondering what could have produced this sudden dejection. 
“ I shall see you again.” 

“ But if you do not, you will ever remember me,” mourn- 
fully returned the down-hearted girl, as the tears began to 
gather in her eyes. “ You will not forget me.” 

“ Marina,” said Gio, in a kind tone, “ you must not feel 
thus. Esther will be a faithful companion, and we will visit 
you again ere long.” 

“ Do not think me weak or unthankful,” exclaimed Marina, 
laying her head upon Strato’s bosom, and bursting into 
tears; “ but, oh, there is a fearful forboding of evil hanging 
over my heart.” 

u Then put it away, dearest,” urged he. “ Come, look up 
and be happy before I go. There is nothing to fear.” 

“ Strato,” uttered the fair daughter of Ludim, with sudden 
calmness; “ last night I had a dream— such a dream as 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


16 

means more than the mere phantasy of sleep. I thought I 
was a bird — a bird so beautiful that all other birds were 
envious. You were my keeper, and you placed me in a 
golden cage, and then you set two lions to watch, and you 
felt sure that against such sentinels there could be no dangei 
of my being stolen away. The night came on, and while 
one lion slept, the other kept watch over my golden home. 
Suddenly I heard the lions both growl, and as I started up 
from my rest, I saw a huge vulture approaching my cage. I 
tried to shriek, but I could not. The powerful beasts roared, 
but the dread vulture heeded them not, for he feared them 
not. The huge bird sailed around me, and at length he 
struck at me with his talons, but the bars resisted him. 
The lions leaped with all their power, but they could not 
reach the enemy. Again the vulture struck, but this time 
he caught one of the bars in his blood-stained beak, and 
he wrenched it off. I shrank away into the corner, and I 
tried to beg for mercy, but no sound came from my tongue. 
Another bar was loosened, and then the fearful foe reached 
me; he caught me in his talons, and he bore me away. Up, 
up, up, we went, till the earth was hid behind the veil of her 
night. The cruel talons pierced into my flesh, and at length, 
when I had nearly lost all consciousness, I uttered a shrill, 
sharp cry, and the vulture let me go. I was falling, falling, 
into the dark abyss beneath me, and closing my eyes against 
the terrible fate — I awoke! Oh, I see it now— all, all, just 
as 1 dreamed it.” 

As the fair girl concluded, she shuddered fearfully at the 
picture which dwelt so vividly in her mind, and throwing 
her arms around her lover’s neck, she sobbed as though her 
heart would break. 

“ ’Twas naught but a dream, dearest,” whispered Strato. 
“ So is life all a dream,” quickly uttered Marina; u and 
perhaps those who quickest wake from it are the happiest.” 
“ Is it not happiness to live for me ? ” 

“ Oh, yes, yes.” 

“ Then live and be happy.” 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


77 


“ I will, I will. I’ll try to drive this phantom from me; 
but oh, dear Strato, you know not how fearful it was.” 

“ Come,” said Gio, who had all this time stood near the 
foot of the steps, “ time is flying away with our minutes.” 

“ I’ll come,” answered Strato; and then turning to his 
heart’s idol, he added: — 

“ There, Marina, the gods watch over thee and bless thee. 
Be of good cheer, now, for Gio assures me that the power to 
harm thee cannot much longer endure. You will watch her 
well, and comfort her, good Esther, will you not? ” 

“In truth I will, sir,” earnestly replied the armorer’s 
daughter. 

o 

“ Then for the present, fare thee well.” 

“ Farewell! ” responded Marina. 

Strato heard that word, and its tones struck painfully upon 
his heart, but he turned not back again, for he dared not 
trust his own feelings in the ordeal. Sadly he followed the 
armorer up the steps, where he waited a moment for the 
movement of the machinery that was necessary to throw the 
pedestal back from its place, and then he stepped out upon 
the pavement. 

The moon was shining brightly in the eastern heavens, 
and as the gaunt shadows of the pillars and fractured walls 
lay along upon the pavement and greensward in dark lines, 
lending to the relics of the past a more solemn grandeur, the 
young man could not but feel gloomy and downcast. 

“ Gio,” said he, as the armorer turned from the pedestal, 
after it had been moved back to its place, “ what a picture is 
this of the frailty of man! ” 

“ All things earthly must pass away,” returned Gio, him- 
self somewhat moved by the peculiar solemnity of the place. 

“ Ay, but these grim walls and toppling monuments passed 
untimely into decay. They fell beneath the hand of the 
spoiler while yet in the pride of youth and power. So may 
we fall.” 

“ Tyre fell in the height of her wickedness and lust. She 
was in youth and power, but that youth was given to 


78 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


licentiousness, and that power to base uses. The spoiler 
came and cut her off. But even now, sec how the green ivy 
clings to her walls, and how the fair cypress mourns over her 
faded form.” 

“ But Tyre is wicked still,” said young Strato, with a 
shudder. 

“ Yes,” replied Gio, “ and her wickedness shall be up- 
rooted, and the wicked shall he cut off in their hour of 
triumph.” 

Strato gazed earnestly into the strangely working features 
of the armorer, but he made no further remark. His mind 
sank back into its own reflections, and silently he passed out 
from the piazza of the temple. 

Neither Gio nor his companion saw the dark forms that 
crouched behind the marble columns within the temple, nor 
dreamed they that they were watched. They heard not the 
stealthy footfalls that began to sound upon the pavement they 
had left behind, nor listed they the low whispers that began 
to break upon the air. 

The moon rode higher and higher, and her bright beams 
began to gain space in the temple as the shadows of the walls 
and columns were shortened. But other shadows were now 
there — shadows that moved and flitted about from corner to 
corner, as though the solid columns were changing places. 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


79 


CHAPTER XII. 

A DOUBLE CAPTURE. 

Long after Gio and Strato left the subterranean apartment, 
the two girls sat together in silence. 

Marina had wiped away her tears, for she had listened to 
the soothing words of her companion, and after uniting in 
their evening prayers they laid themselves down upon their 
couch. 

“ I dare not sleep,” murmured the fair girl, as she rested 
her head upon her pillow. 

“ And why ? ” asked Esther, placing her arm affectionately 
about the fearful fair one. “ All is safe here.” 

“ Ah, Esther, your own words tell me that you, too, 
fear.” 

“Me?” 

“ Yes, Esther. Your voice trembles, and you speak with 
hope, rather than assurance.” 

“ Then happy am I if I can even hope. Why cannot you 
hope also ? ” 

“ Because I should hope against hope. Strato looked 
gloomy when he left me.” 

“ He was gloomy, Marina, because your own fears made 
him so. He feared nothing.” 

“ I wish I were rid of fear; but I am not. The very air 
seems laden with the reflection of that fearful dream. My 
poor father is gone, perhaps murdered, and I am ” 

“ Under the protection of one as kind and powerful as he,” 
interrupted Esther. “ My own father has sworn to protect 
you, and if he is able he will do it. Of course there are 
circumstances in the future which none of earth can foresee, 
but let us not fear them till they come.” 


80 


THE ARMORER OP TYRE. 


' . • ' -yjfj ' > f Tip: ‘ ^ ’ 


“ You have not lost a father, Esther, nor are you hunted 

down by a ruthless king. I know I have friends, and 

Hark I ” 

“What is it?” quickly asked Esther, who had been so 
intent upon the words of her companion that she heard 
nothing else. 

“ Heard you not that noise ? 55 
“No. Where?” 

“ I thought ’twas from overhead.” 

“ I’m sure I did not hear it.” 

“ There! Heard you not that ? ” 

“ I did hear something then,” returned Esther, raising her 
head from her pillow. 

They both listened for several moments, and then the 
sound came again. It was a sort of thumping, and appeared 
to come from the porphyry pedestal. 

“ It may be our waiting-man,” suggested Esther, as she 
arose from her couch and stood upon the pavement. 

“ He would not come at this hour,” returned Marina, 
trembling like an aspen. 

As she spoke, she, too, arose from the couch, and drawing 
near to the side of her companion, she stood in painful 
silence. 

“ Do you not hear footsteps upon the pavement above ? ” 
she at length asked. 

“ Yes,” returned Esther. 

“ And there are a number of them, too.” 

“ There must be.” 

“ The gods protect us! ” 

“ Let us fear not yet,” urged Esther, vainly endeavoring 
to quiet her own trembling. “ They cannot know the secret 
of this place.” 

“ Great God! ” ejaculated Marina, starting with a sudden 
thought, “ may not your father and Strato have been 
watched ? Your father spoke to-night of spies! ” 

Esther spoke not, for the fearful thought had already found 
its way to her own mind, and for this had she trembled. 


The Lovers.— page 75 





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THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


81 


Again the girls listened, and ere long it seemed as though 
some heavy body were being dragged over the pavement 
above their heads. Then for a moment all was still, save a 
slight pattering, as if of rapidly changing footfalls ; then even 
that died away, and all was quiet. 

“ They’re gone,” whispered Esther. 

Marina might have spoken in reply, but at that moment 
there came a sound so heavy that it seemed to roll its echo 
like thunder through the place. 

Again all was still, save the beatings of the poor girl’s 
hearts. 

“ Heavens, Marina,” ejaculated the armorer’s daughter, 
“ they are indeed forcing their way to our retreat. My 
father’s steps have been watched! ” 
u Oh, let me die here! ” fell in fluttering accents from the 
poor fugitive’s lips. “How I am ready. Oh, my dream! 
my dream! ” 

“ Hush! ” whispered Esther. “ They have not yet broken 
through the stout barrier that guards us from the world. 
The stout masonry may yet prove too strong for them.” 
“Ho, no; my dream! my prophetic dream! The greedy 
vulture has soared above the reach of my lion guardians, 
and now he pounces upon me.” 

Again came that dreadful sound, and while yet the echo 
trembled upon the air there came a crash as though the 
surrounding walls were tumbling from their foundations. 

“ The pedestal has gone! ” uttered Esther. 

“ And we, too! ” responded Marina. 

With painfully hushed hearts the two girls stood, clasped 
in each other’s arms; and thus they silently awaited the 
denouement of the attack. Heavy feet were busy overhead, 
and the sound of voices reached the apartment. Esther 
knew they were searching for the movable slab. Her eyes 
were fixed upon the spot where it opened, and ere long a 
bright moonbeam fell across the way before her. The cool 
air struck up on her face, and the slab was thrown entirely 
back. 


6 


82 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


The girls shrank back to the extremity of the place, and 
while they stood trembling there, half a dozen soldiers 
descended the marble steps, led on by Warnam, one of the 
king’s chief officers. 

“If I mistake not, I address the daughter of Kison 
Ludim,” remarked the officer, as he advanced towards the 
spot where the girls stood, like lambs awaiting the sacrifice. 

“ That old man was my father,” answered Marina, almost 
taking hope from the kind and deferential manner in which 
the officer spoke. 

“ Then I must ask you to accompany me to the king’s 
palace.” 

“ Oh, no! You will not tear me away from here,” cried 
the poor girl, sinking upon her knees, and clasping her 
hands in supplication. 

“ I have no choice in the matter, lady,” returned Warnam, 
taking a step forward and laying his hand upon Marina’s 
arm. “ Your maid can accompany you if you like.” 

“ Of course I shall attend her,” replied Esther. 

“ Oh, you will not take us hence,” urged Marina. “ I am 
a poor, defenceless orphan, and you should not trample upon 
such.” 

“ The king must be obeyed,” sternly answered the officer. 
“ To him you can unfold the tale of your grievances, but 
I cannot stop to hear them now. Come. If you have aught 
here that you wish to take with you, you may now collect it.” 

u I have nothing but my own liberty, and that you will 
take! ” groaned Marina, in heart-broken accents. 

“ No, no, lady,” rejoined Warnam, somewhat moved by 
the beauty and distress of the poor girl; “ if there be guilt in 
the deed, lay it not to me, for God knows I seek not your 
misery. The king must be obeyed. Come; we have not 
longer to wait.” 

Marina saw that further persuasion would be useless, and 
with a heavy heart she gave her hand to Esther, and ascended 
the stone steps. When they landed upon the pavement 
above they found half a dozen more soldiers in waiting, and 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


83 


they saw, too, how the entrance had been effected. Near 
the spot lay a ponderous beam which had been used as a 
battering-ram, and the pedestal was found to have been 
merely overturned. 

As the party were arranged upon the outside, part of them 
walked in front of the girls, and part of them in the rear, 
while Warnam kept along by their side. No words were 
spoken on the way, save an occasional order from the officer 
to his soldiers, and ever and anon a deep sob from Marina 
that seemed to echo the heavy tread of the men. She spoke 
not, for she knew it would be of no use. She could only 
think of the wretched fate that awaited her. Life she might 
have given up with complacency; but to be robbed thus of all 
that made life valuable, was to keep her alive to feed upon 
the bitterest dregs of existence — chained to misery with a 
bleeding heart, with only the privilege of looking back upon 
the joys of which she had been forever robbed. 

Swiftly the soldiers passed on, and at a point some fifty 
rods to the southward of the tall column they found their 
barge. They had been wise enough not to land where those 
who had come over in the small boat — one of which they 
knew to be Strato — could detect their craft. 

“ Their comes a vessel up through the straits,” remarked 
one of the soldiers, pointing off the southern entrance of the 
narrow way between the city and the mainland. 

“ Some merchant from Arabia,” carelessly responded 
Warnam, as he caught sight of the vessel. 

No further notice was taken of the sail, and having handed 
the girls into the barge, the soldiers were stationed at the 
oars, and soon afterwards they were heading towards the 
city. The vessel which had been made out entering the 
straits was now standing boldly up, and Warnam entertained 
some doubts of being able to make his way ahead of her. 
She had a fair wind, and was cutting through the water 
swiftly. 

“ That is not a Tyrian vessel,” said one of the men. 

“ No,” remarked another; “ she looks more like a Cyprian.” 

8 


84 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


“ If she were bound for one of our harbors, she would 
stand in towards the island,” said the first speaker. 

u You may ease your oars,” uttered Warnam, as he stood 
up in the stern of the barge and looked off towards where the 
vessel was coming upon them. “ She will pass quietly by,” 
he added, though the peculiar tones of his voice expressed a 
slight doubt of the probability of his assertion. 

The moonlight was so vivid that the men could be plainly 
distinguished upon the stranger’s deck, and shortly after- 
wards, while yet the barge lay nearly motionless in the water, 
a rattling was heard among her rigging, and in a moment 
more her course was slightly changed. 

“ By the power of Jupiter,” ejaculated one of the soldiers; 
“ she’s coming directly upon us.” 

u See those men!-— see the glistening of their breast-plates I 
She’s a Cyprian corsair! ” 

u In with your oars! ” shouted Warnam, as the truth of 
this last remark flashed upon him. u Pull back for the coast! ” 

The men obeyed the command; but they soon found that 
they had been too late in their movements, for by the time 
the head of the barge was turned, the stranger was hard 
upon them. 

“ What barge is that ? ” hailed some one from the vessel. 

“ The king’s,” returned Warnam. 

“ Then stop while I overhaul you.” 

Without an order from their officer the soldiers raised 
their oars from the water, for they were afraid of a shower 
of arrows if they kept on. 

The vessel was clumsily hove-to, by bringing one of the 
lumbering sails into the wind and casting loose the sheets of 
the other, and then the barge was ordered to row alongside. 

“ You will not of course detain us,” said Warnam, as he 
caught a line which had been thrown to him, “ for we are on 
a mission for the king.” 

“We shall see first whether you are worth detaining,” 
laconically replied the captain of the Cyprian, leaning over 
the side to get a view at the interior of the barge. 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


85 


u But the king, sir, will not brook interference.” 

“ He may do as he likes on that score,” responded he of 
the vessel; “ but to tell you the plain truth, I like the looks 
of your men, and more especially of those girls, so you may 
step on board.” 

The craft was indeed a Cyprian corsair, and Warnam 
knew that resistance would be utterly useless; so he made 
his way on board, and then ordered his men to hand up 
the girls. 

The corsair’s crew consisted of about fifty men, and from 
the appearance of things about the deck had on board quite 
a valuable cargo. The soldiers trembled with fear when they 
came over the side, and silently they awaited the decision 
of their fate. 

“ Be not alarmed, fair lady,” gallantly spoke the corsair 
captain, as he stepped forward, and gazed into the face of 
Marina. 

“ Ho alarm can add to my sufferings now,” returned she, 
in a despondent tone. 

u Ha, then you were a prisoner — you were forced to your 
aquatic voyage ? ” 

“ She was for the king,” explained Warnam. 

u What! Does the old dotard feast upon such beauty as 
they ? ” 

u A wife for the young prince, sir,” continued the officer. 

“ Then I think the young prince will have to go brideless 
till he finds another. And you, my pretty one,” continued 
the corsair, turning to Esther, “ are the lady’s maid, I 
suppose ? ” 

“ Yes, sir,” returned Esther, with considerable firmness. 

“ Then you shall both be cared for.” 

“ But to what end ? ” asked Marina, as a fearful thought 
flashed through her mind — a thought more dreadful than 
the idea of wedding the prince. 

u That will appear anon,” coolly answered the captain; 
and then turning to his crew, he ordered the barge to be cut 
adrift, and the vessel to be put on her course. 


80 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 

As soon as the corsair was once more standing up through 
the straits, the soldiers were deprived of their arms, and 
told that they might make themselves at home around the 
forecastle; while the girls were conducted to the captain’s 
cabin, which was a sort of house built upon the quarter- 
deck, with a narrow walk around it upon the outside. 

Warnam gazed off upon the moonlit city, and as its tall 
domes and spires gradually receded from his view, he began 
to think upon the dreamy fate before him, and that fate he 
well knew. He knew that the corsairs were in the habit of 
kidnapping people, and selling them into the service of 
warring chieftains, and that this made one of the most 
lucrative items in their profession, and already he felt the 
load upon his devoted back. He cursed the hour that sent 
him upon the mission for the king, and he cursed the poor 
girl who had been the innocent cause of all. Then he 
cursed the armorer, and finally when the last glimmer of 
moonlight could be seen upon the turrets of Tyre no more, 
he settled into a moody silence, from which even the ques- 
tions of his companions could not arouse him. 


THE ARMORER OP TYRE* 


St 


CHAPTER XIII/ 

FATE’S vista grows darker and darker. 

The fair Marina reclined upon a low couch in the corsair’s 
cabin, and at her feet reclined Esther. Both had been 
weeping, though the tears of the latter had left but little 
vestige of their tracks. A small lamp was suspended from 
the ceiling, and by its dim rays the girls were enabled to 
take a view of the things about them. The place exhibited 
a strange mixture of the rough and the polished, the homely 
and the sumptuous. In one corner stood a large stack of 
javelins, while hanging about upon the sides, over the 
damask couches, were quite a number of spears and bows, 
with steel-headed arrows. 

Marina gazed about upon the quaint articles and their 
arrangement, and for a moment her grief became almost 
lost in a sea of troubled wonder; but gradually a sickening 
sensation crept through her frame, and she felt faint and 
weak. The strange motion of the vessel was new to her, 
and beneath its influence she sank into a state of utter 
disregard for things about her. Her head grew dizzy, 
objects seemed to swim before her, her hands fell listless at 
her side, and, all unconscious of the efforts of Esther to 
revive her, she sank back upon the couch and forgot that 
she lived. 

It was bright morning when the fair daughter of Kison 
Ludim awoke from her unconsciousness, and, strange as it 
may seem, when she felt the fresh air her seasickness had 
nearly passed away. There was wine upon a rough side- 
board, the bottles being confined by small cords fastened to 
the side of the cabin and looped around them, and of this 
Esther persuaded her mistress to drink. The portion 


88 


THE ARMORER OP TYRE. 


somewhat revived her, and as the generous warmth began to 
creep through her frame, her scattered senses came together 
again, and she knew where she was and what she had 
suffered. 

The sun had crept over the rugged coast, and its bright, 
warm beams leaped through the latticed windows of the 
cabin and dwelt upon the arms that hung against the opposite 
partition, Marina saw the golden flood, but the sight made 
her more sad and gloomy, for the contrast was stronger, and 
the light seemed but to reveal more plainly her own miseries. 
The corsair captain had spoken kindly to her, but she feared 
that it was the kindness of self-interest. The fearful picture 
of fate that arose before her was worse, far worse, than that 
to which King Mapen would have consigned her, and an 
involuntary cry of pain broke from her lips as she called the 
picture to her mind. 

Esther had ceased endeavoring to console her mistress, 
for she could find no consolation to offer; and besides, she 
was herself now a sufferer. She had been torn from a kind 
father, and her fate was not less certain than was that of 
Marina. 

Thus they both sat, sometimes buried in deep, melancholy 
reflection, and anon murmuring their thoughts aloud, till 
nearly noon. They were' wondering why they were thus 
left alone, when the door opened, and gave entrance to the 
corsair. He was a dark-looking man, with a countenance 
expressive of daring and cunning, and shadowed by a sort 
of slantwise look of calculating cupidity. Eor several mo- 
ments he stood and regarded his fair prisoners in silence. A 
pleased, satisfied look rested upon his features as he realized 
the rare beauty of Marina, and taking a step forward, he 
said: — 

“ I trust, ladies, you will not accuse me of neglect, for I 
knew that you had everything here necessary for your 
comfort.” 

Marina gazed sadly up into her captor’s face, but she 
spoke not. 


The armorer op tyre. 


89 


“ You look much better than I expected to have found 
you,” continued the captain. “ The sea agrees with you. 
However, your voyage will be at an end by to-morrow 
morning, at the furthest.” 

Again Marina looked up, and at length her tongue found 
utterance. 

“ Oh, where do you think of taking us, sir ?” she asked, 
half starting up from her seat, and bending earnestly 
forward. 

“ I am bound to Tarsus.” 

“And what do you there? What — what is to be my 
fate ? ” 

“ One so beautiful as you should secure a good fate, 
certainly.” 

Marina shuddered. 

“ But tell us what that fate is to be,” exclaimed Esther. 

“ That I can hardly tell,” returned the corsair, regarding 
the girls with sparkling eyes. 

“ You know your own purpose,” persisted Esther. 

“ Oh, yes, I know what I shall do; but then fate is some- 
thing I don’t pretend to read,” answered the man, with a 
dubious expression of countenance. 

“ One thing tell me, sir,” exclaimed Marina, starting to 
her feet as she spoke; “ do you intend to — to ” 

Her voice failed her, and covering her face with her hands, 
she sank back upon the couch. 

“ What would you have asked? ” uttered the corsair, not 
at all moved by what he had seen. 

“ She would have asked, sir, if you intend to sell us?” 
said Esther, with forced energy. 

“Well,” returned the captain, in a sort of calculating 
manner, “ it isn’t often that I get such a prize as this, and I 
am inclined to the opinion that I shall make the most of it, 
now that it is in my hands. But you need not fear; I won’t 
sell you to a life of drudgery.” 

These words fell like a thunderbolt upon the ears of poor 
Marina, and as their meaning went rolling to her heart the 


90 


THE ARMORER OP TYRE. 


very blood that coursed there seemed frozen in its channels. 
She realized the whole at once, for ’twas the same fearful 
thought that had filled her mind with its terrors since she 
had come on board the vessel. No tears came to her relief, 
for those gentle streams were frozen up at the fountain, and 
her grief found vent only in the deep throes of her heaving 
bosom. At length she raised her eyes to the face of the 
man before her. He did not look ugly, nor did he look like 
a remorseless tyrant. Her lips parted, and she sank upon 
her knees. 

“ Oh, spare me! ” she cried. “ Carry me back to Tyre, 
and you shall receive more than you can possibly realize 
elsewhere.” 

“ No, no, my lady; I’ll not run myself into the jaws of the 
king.” 

“ I meant not the king, sir. There is another in Tyre who 
will pay my ransom a thousand fold. Oh, I would not be 
delivered up to the king.” 

“I fear I cannot grant your request,” said the corsair, 
with a shake of his head. “ I should hardly dare to venture 
back to Tyre.” 

•“ Will you not listen to my prayers ? ” still cried the poor 
girl, clinging to her captor’s knees. u I am of gentle blood 
— I am an orphan. Oh, do not sell me into cruel bondage! 
Kill me, sir! Oh, kill me, but do not make me more miser- 
able than I am now I ” 

“ You must not think me over-cruel, fair lady, but you 
only waste words in urging me thus, for I cannot let you go. 
You place altogether too much importance upon the affair, 
and you may rest assured that your lot will not be a hard 
one. You shall go to one who will keep you like a lady as 
you are.” 

“ Oh, cruel, cruel I I would rather work, toil, spin, dig 
even in the field, than share the lot you paint! ” 

The corsair raised Marina to her feet, and she fell back 
upon her couch. The bold man regarded her for a moment, 
and then said: — 


THE ARMORER OP TYRE. 


§1 

“ There is one favor I will grant.” 

The poor girl opened her eyes. 

“You shall both be sold to the same person.” 

Marina closed her eyes and groaned aloud. The promise 
included a boon, but she had hoped for more. 

“ If you want anything,” continued he, you can touch 
yonder bell, and your summons shall be immediately an- 
swered. I trust when I see you again, I shall find you in 
better spirits.” 

As the captain thus spoke, he turned and left the place. 
“Is it not dreadful?” murmured Marina, as she gazed 
into the tear-wet face of her faithful companion. 

“ ’Tis indeed,” uttered Esther; “ but let us not give way 
entirely to despair. There yet may be hope.” 

“ And upon what can you hang it ? ” 

“ If we both go together — and I think the man will keep 
his promise — we may find some means of escape.” 

“ That is a faint hope, Esther.” 

“ Let us cherish it, at least.” 

“ I will try.” 

“But let us make up our minds that we will live only 
for escape.” 

Esther had fairly worked herself into the hope she would 
picture, and even Marina began to gain strength of mind to 
bear up under the disaster that had befallen her. She felt 
herself to be drowning, and she had caught at the straw that 
floated past. 

The day had passed slowly and heavily away, and when 
night fell down again upon the sea the girls called for the 
first time for food. It was speedily brought, and as they 
appeased their hunger they felt better and stronger, though 
of course their grief knew no rest. Marina could but think 
of her lover — of his distress, and of his agony, and in that 
one corner of her soul, where his image was sacredly 
enshrined, she felt a pang that even hope could not cure. 

Daylight came again, and ere long the poor girls knew 
that the vessel had reached the harbor, for they heard the 


92 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


rattling of the sails and the ropes as they swung loosely 
against the masts, and they felt the low tremulousness of the 
vessel as the anchor was let go. Then they knew they were 
swinging about, and when they cast their eyes out at the 
window they found that they had entered the mouth of a 
river, for there was land upon both hands, and a large city 
loomed up in the distance. Their morning’s meal was brought 
to them, and while they were eating it, Esther remarked: — 
“Now, Marina, we have seen enough of our captor to 
know that his mind is made up, and that no persuasions or 
entreaties of ours can turn him. Let us, then, offer no 
resistance, for the more quietly we submit, the more easy 
will be our treatment, and the less shall we be watched.” 

“ I know your counsel is good, and that you speak the 
truth,” returned Marina, her eyes now filling with tears; 
“ but oh, how can one submit to such a fate? ” 

“ We must submit,” philosophically replied Esther. 

“ Indeed we must, but I cannot look upon it calmly, even 
to appearances.” 

“ But you will promise not to resist ? ” 

“Of course I should not do that. I am too weak, too 
broken-hearted, for resistance. They may lead me to my 
death, if they choose.” 

“ Say not so.” 

“ But I feel so.” 

“ Then away with the feeling. When first I found myself 
torn from my father, my heart sank within me, but I have 
plucked it up again, and now it is strong enough to plot 
for that freedom of which they would rob us. Courage, 
Marina, courage.” 

There was something persuasive in the tone and manner 
of the armorer’s daughter, for she possessed a good share of 
her father’s firmness, and by no means a small share of his 
cunning. She placed her arms around her companion’s neck 
as she spoke, and gazed up with such an imploring look, 
that Marina could not resist the spell, and ere she knew it, 
hope had half nestled itself in her bosom. 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


93 


“ Promise me that you will be firm,” continued Esther. 

“ I will try,” replied Marina, with more confidence than 
she had expressed for a long time. 

“ Then you will succeed,” and thus speaking Esther wiped 
the tears from the face of her fair mistress. 

It was nearly noon when the corsair captain called for the 
girls to attend him on deck, and as they passed out, they 
could not but feel a sense of momentary pleasure at the beauty 
of the scenery that lay spread out about them. They were 
a few miles up the Cydnus river, in the midst of one of the 
gardens of that world. The Tyrian soldiers had been already 
sent on shore, and now they were to follow. A sumptuous 
barge was alongside, beneath the silken canopy of which 
they were soon seated, and in a few moments more the 
unfortunate girls were passing swiftly on in the path of their 
strange destiny. 


04 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


CHAPTER XIY. 

A STARTLING INTERVIEW, AND STRANGE FEARS. 

Mapen, king of Tyre, was in a dark, gloomy mood. The 
very gods seemed to have conspired against him. It was 
nearly noon on the day succeeding the capture of the barge, 
messengers had been sent to the coast in quest of the sol- 
diers, and they had returned, bringing intelligence of the 
strange opening of the subterranean apartment beneath the 
ruins of the old temple, and of the disappearance of the 
party who had been sent in quest of the girls. The barge 
had been picked up a little to the north of the city by some 
fishermen, and the report of that, also, had reached the 
monarch’s ears. He stood leaning against one of the pillars 
of his audience chamber, but all visitors were shut out. He 
was not in the mood to render judgment, for the inexplicable 
failure of his plans with regard to the daughter of Ludim, 
had crushed every cooler feeling in his bosom. 

u Phalis,” he said at length, turning to his son, who stood 
near him, “if Gio be once more in my power, he shall not 
escape me. He is at the bottom of this affair.” 

“ So I think,” returned the piince; “ but I fear he cannot 
be taken. The strange manner in which he escaped from 
the centurion and his guard is to me a mystery.” 

u He must have some secret hiding-place which the 
soldiers did not find.” 

“ That is impossible, for, according to the centurion’s ac- 
count, he must have gone up the stairs, and there is no way 
under heaven of escape or concealment except by the way of 
the tops of the adjoining houses, and that pass was securely 
guarded. And there is another thing that seems strange, 
and that is, the presence of the priest of Hercules there.” 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


95 


“ That may be easily accounted for,” returned the king. 
“ The armorer does all the work in metals for the temple, 
and Balbec was probably there on that account, for he could 
have nothing further with an humble artizan.” 
u That is probably the case, but yet, from what intelligence 
I can gain of the armorer, there is something almost passing 
credit in his affairs.” 

“ Ah,” uttered the king, with some surprise in his manner, 
“ have you learned anything about him that is so strange ? ” 
“ Yes,” returned the prince, “ there are some most strange 
things concerning him. Many years ago — fifteen, some tell 
me, while others say it is more — Grio voluntarily let himself 
to old Strato, for a quantity of gold with which to make 
ornaments for the temple of Hercules, and it is asserted that 
in consideration of that sacrifice, the god has taken him- 
under espeeial favor. And so it would seem, for many are 
the accounts of his marvelous disappearances and re-appear- 
ances about the city, and even our own experience tells us 
that some strange power protects him. To tell you the 
truth, father, I begin to fear the man.” 
u No, no, my son, ’tis not for us to fear the armorer. I 
shall yet hope to entrap him. There is some deception in 
all this, for I think the armorer owes more to his personal 
prowess than to aught else. If I can learn of his where- 
abouts, I will surely have him arrested.” 

“ Well,” returned Phalis, after a few moments of reflec- 
tion, u then the sooner ’tis done the better, and on the whole 
I think it best that he should be secured.” 

“ Of course it is,” said the king, considerably reassured by 
the acquiescence of his son. “ Pshaw! There’s nothing 
about the man so strange, after all. He’s powerful in the 
use of weapons, for they have been his playthings from 
youth, and he has secret friends, too, in the palace, else how 
could he have escaped from his dungeon ? The next time 
I’ll have him watched by those whom I can trust — I’ll keep 
him till we gain possession of Ludim’s daughter, and then 
he shall die.” 


96 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


Mapen started from the pillar against which he had been 
leaning and walked across the apartment. His step was such 
a one as a man takes when he thinks to clinch a resolution. 

u Phalis,” he continued, in a calmer tone, “ you may have 
my slaves sent in, and if there be any without who desire 
audience, they may be admitted.” 

The prince had turned to obey his father’s request, but ere 
he had passed half the distance between the throne and the 
entrance-way, the door was suddenly thrown open, and the 
eyes of the astounded king and prince rested upon the 
stalwart form of Giol He bore in his hand a naked sword, 
and his face was moved by a powerful emotion. He looked 
as black as midnight in his fierce wrath, and the very air 
that hung about him seemed laden with the iron purpose that 
nerved him to meet the monarch. 

Mapen made a motion as if to call for his slaves. It was a 
weak, a fluttering motion, but yet its import was plain. 

“ Move not at the peril of your lives! ” uttered Gio, in a 
hoarse whisper. “ I mean you no harm, nor will I take harm 
from you. I knew you were alone, and I have come to ask 
you a simple question.” 

“ But the guards — how passed you them ? ” asked the king, 
whose mind instinctively turned upon the strangeness of 
such a circumstance, in spite of the tumultuous fear which 
he now experienced. 

“ I passed them by a power they knew not of. None 
heeded my presence, for none dreamed that Gio was nigh.” 

Again Phalis started towards the door, but a simple look 
from the formidable intruder was sufficient to arrest his 
steps. 

The king began to see that he was fairly entrapped, and 
though his wrath was great, yet his fear was greater, for 
well he knew that one single sweep of that fearful sword 
would prove his death warrant. There was that in the 
fiercely burning eye of the armorer, which told him of a 
purpose not to be shaken, and as an emperor might quail 
before a crouched lion or a wakened tiger, so did the monarch 


/ 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


97 


of Tyre quail before one of his own subjects. No slaves 
were at hand to do his bidding, no soldiers to strike the 
blow he had not the power to strike himself. 

u What seek you? ” he at length asked, while he made a 
motion to Phalis to remain quiet. 

“ I have come to ask you what you have done with the 
daughter of Kison Ludim ? ” 

“ That is the same question I would have asked of thee,” 
returned the king, with a sudden start. 

“ Do not lie to me, King Mapen. Where have you placed 
the fair Marina? ” 

“ Nowhere. She is not in my power.” 

“ Did you not send soldiers last night to hang upon my 
tracks ? ” 

“ I sent soldiers to watch the course of young Strato.” 

“ Ay, and they found the lady, and dragged her forth from 
her resting place. Now, king, tell me where she is ? ” 

“ I know not.” 

“ Beware! ” pronounced Gio, while a spark from his burn- 
ing eye seemed to penetrate to the very soul of the monarch. 

“ I have not seen her,” persisted the king, who was now 
surprised in turn. “ This morning some fishermen picked up 
my barge at sea, but not a soul was in it. I had been sure 
’twas your work.” 

“ Then they may have all been drowned,” muttered Gio 
to himself, for there was something in the manner of the 
king that gave assurance that he spoke the truth. 

“ No, that cannot be,” said Mapen, for the fishermen 
assured me that the barge had not been overturned, nor was 
there any disarrangement of its furniture,” 

Again Gio bent upon the king one of those keen, searching 
looks, but he could read nothing save simple truth and 
honest wonder. 

“ Then I fear their fate is sealed,” he said, in a half 
despondent tone. “ Some corsair has picked them up.” 

“ Then I’ll rake the earth till I find them!” cried the king, 
“ or, at least, till I find the daughter of Kison Ludim,” 

h 


98 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


“ You’ll find her not, sire,” returned Gio, with a spice of 
irony in his tone. “ ’Tis you who have brought this on her, 
and you had now better let the matter drop.” 

“ But I will find her, even though every vessel in my 
navy be called into requisition.” 

“Then you may make the trial,” uttered the armorer, 
while a peculiar light broke upon his countenance. “ And,” 
he added, seeming to have checked some words that had 
arisen to his lips, “ I hope you will succeed.” 

Mapen started at these words, for he thought he detected 
some meaning, and once more the king arose above the man. 

“I will find her, and I’ll keep her, too,” he exclaimed; 
“ and as for you, sir, your head is not worth the bond of a 
day. You shall learn what it i3 to beard a king! ” 

Gio smiled as the monarch thus spoke, and a ray of some- 
thing very much like pity shot athwart his face. Mapen saw 
that look, and he could not but wonder at its strangeness. 

“I pray the gods that you may find her,” said the 
armorer. “ And now,” he continued, half turning towards 
the door, “ I must leave you. I am satisfied you speak the 
truth, and for the present I will leave you to prosecute your 
search. Farewell.” 

“ Hold! ” cried Mapen, in whose bosom the spirit of 
curiosity suddenly burst forth. “ Tell me, strange man, 
who and what you are.” 

“ One who could read your destiny if he chose,” returned 
Gio, stopping and turning again towards the king. 

“ I ask not for what you can do, but for what you are ?” 
“ I am Gio, the armorer of Tyre.” 

“ But you are more than that.” 

“ Ay, I am now the master of both a king and a prince.” 
Mapen grasped the small dagger he wore in his girdle, and 
Phalis took a step forward; but even had it not been for that 
formidable sword they would not have moved further, for 
Gio’s look alone restrained them. It was now terrific in its 
strange majesty. 

“ Faiewell, Mapen; but believe me, we shall meet again.” 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


99 


The king offered no resistance — he moved not from his 
place as the armorer turned away, and, almost before he 
was aware of the fact, the wonderful man had gone! 

“ Arouse the guard! Stop him! ” shouted Phalis, as the 
dying footfalls of the departing man broke the fearful charm 
that had bound him. 

The guard came rushing towards the spot. 

“ Stop the armorer! ” shouted Mapen. 

“ The armorer I ” iterated the captain in astonishment. 

“ Ay — the armorer! Passed he not here ? ” 

“ No, sire.” 

“ Thou liest! He did, for he left here but a moment 
since,” fairly shrieked the king. 

“ Then he took your own private passage, sire.” 

“ Spring to the gates — secure every avenue leading from 
the palace! ” 

The soldiers leaped quickly to obey orders, but no Gio could 
be found — none had seen him enter or go away! Every 
nook and corner of the vast building were searched, but 
’twas fruitless. 

“ ’Tis strange,” murmured the king, as he stood trembling 
before his son. 

“ ’Tis wonderful,” echoed Phalis, while a cold tremor 
shook his frame. 

“ Who can he be ? ” 

“ Not the man he appears.” 

“ But what does he appear? ” 

“ I know not.” 

“ Neither do I.” 

Both the royal parent and the son gazed upon each other 
in silence. Not only was there something alarming in the 
mysterious power of the armorer, but he seemed to have 
some strange connection with other matters that rested 
heavily on their minds. They wondered till they both were 
lost in the mazes of their own conjecture, and then they came 
back and dwelt upon the startling interview they had just 
held with the object of their doubts and fears. 

7 


100 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


CHAPTER XV. 

THE DEATH-SLEEP I 

It was dark. Gio and young Strato sat within the latter’s 
dwelling. The powerful armorer leaned his head upon his 
hand, and a single tear tickled down from beneath hi3 
fingers, and a close observer might have seen that his bosom 
was heaving with strong internal emotion. Strato’s eyes 
were dry, but yet his face was full of anguish that came 
gushing up from his pain-stricken heart. 

“ Alas! we both have cause for sorrow,” murmured Strato. 

“ Ay, and for deep sorrow, too.” 

Strato started at the sound of his voice, and gazed up to 
see if it were really his friend who had spoken. It was so 
deep, so strange, that it struck upon his ear with a startling 
effect. It was Gio, and in a moment more he returned: — 

“You have lost a daughter, and I oh, what a blow is 

this! ” 

“ Courage, courage! ” exclaimed Gio, starting up from his 
seat and brushing his hand over the spot where a few mo- 
ments before had rested a tear. “ Some kind power may 
yet befriend us. I have had darker clouds than this roll 
over my soul, and the sunlight has not failed to drive them 
away. The heart will throb, and the silent fountain of 
grief burst open its gates, but there’s a future ahead, and 
he who is wise will look to it. Bury not yourself in useless 
repinings, but up and gird on the armor of a resolute deter- 
mination. Strato, I’ll not shed another tear till I find my 
child.” 

“ Ah, Gio, you cannot feel as I feel.” 

“ And why ? ” 

“ Your heart is more stubborn. Your life is different.” 


THE ARMORER OP TYRE. 


101 


“ Ay, my life has been different.” 

Again young Strato started and gazed earnestly into the 
face of the armorer. What was it that moved him so? 
’Twas surely Gio, and yet how strange, how nobly strange, 
sounded that voice. There was a fire in his eye he had 
never noticed there before, a swelling of the muscles that 
gave to the face a nobleness that did not use to he so. 

Again Gio spoke. 

“ I must away now, for I fear I have another sad office on 
my hands. Oh, my heart is heavy! Fare thee well, Strato.” 

“ But whither, whither, good Gio ? ” 

“ To the temple.” 

u So late you will not gain entrance.” 

Gio’s heavy brows curled with something like a dark 
smile. The muscles about the mouth twitched with a con- 
tinuation of that smile, and then he turned away. He spoke 
not further, but silently he passed on into the darkness of 
the piazza, and then Strato heard his steps sound upon the 
pavement. 

It was midnight in Tyre! a dark, cheerless midnight. The 
wind moaned through the streets, and a gloomy veil shut out 
the stars. Nature seemed weeping in tearless grief! 

From out the great temple came a score of men, and they 
bore upon their shoulders a thing covered with sackcloth! 
With slow and solemn tread they crossed the vast Mosaic 
square, and then they turned towards the royal palace. Ebo, 
the king’s chief officer, led the men, and he seemed anxious 
to walk more rapidly. 

The gates of the palace were thrown open, and the party 
entered. The king heard the confusion, and he hurried to 
his marble hall. The men who bore the burden entered into 
the presence of their monarch, and there they sat it down. 
The light from large golden lamps fell in sombre streams 
upon the sackcloth, and with wondering mind Mapen awaited 
an explanation of the scene. 

“ Sire,” spoke Ebo, “ we’ve brought him dead! ” 


102 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


“ Who? ” exclaimed both king and prince in concert. 

Ebo pointed silently to the burden the soldiers had placed 
upon the pavement. 

Mapen stepped forward and raised the cloth. It fell from 
his hold and slid off upon the floor. The beams of the golden 
lamps fell aslant the cold, stiff features of Gio! He lay there 
as quiet as a lamb, with his huge breast hushed from its 
heavings, and his lips closed in death. There had been no 
struggle in that death— no pain — for a half wreathing smile 
rested there, as though those now soundless ears had drank 
in an answer to the last prayer that escaped. 

“ The gods be praised for this! ” ejaculated the monarch, 
as he half recoiled from the corpse. “But tell me, Ebo, 
where did you find him ? ” 

“ In the temple, sire.” 

“Dead? ” 

“Yes.” 

“But how ? Explain . 5 ’ 

“ As we passed the temple to-night in our rounds — per- 
haps an hour since — we heard the loud voice of the high 
priest, Balbec, supplicating the gods. The wide door was 
flung open, and as we saw lights streaming forth, we entered. 
At the foot of Hercules lay the corpse of Gio, and over him 
stood the priest. He told us that the armorer had died but 
a short time before, and that he had died calmly and quietly. 
Then he bade us bring the body to the palace, where it must 
remain till he came to see it.” 

“But why such a strange request as that?” asked the 
king, in astonishment, still gazing fixedly upon the cold 
features of the dead man. 

“ He said this man was favored of the gods, and that you 
should pay all honor to his remains. The oracle spoke while 
we stood there, and it said, ‘ Obey! ’ ” 

“ That is more strange than all,” murmured the king. 
“ Yet it shall be obeyed. I shall weep not over the cause.” 
“ Father,” said the prince, stepping nearer to the body, 
and regarding its face with a wistful look; “ I wish those lips 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


103 


could have told their secret ere they had been closed forever, 
for ’tis no common tale that’s now locked up in that cold 
bosom.” 

“ I believe you, my son.” 

“ Perhaps the high priest may know it all,” suggested Ebo. 

“ Ha, so it may be. I thought not of that. When comes 
he, Ebo? ” 

“He said not, sire; but it must be ere long, for he will 
take charge of the body and embalm it. He only said he 
wished the body to remain here till he came.” 

“ Perhaps ’twas to assure us that the man was dead,” said 
Phalis. 

“ So you may be right.” 

“ The priest said you would like to see the corpse,” added 
Ebo. 

“ Good, he spoke the truth,” returned the monarch, now 
gaining more courage to gaze upon the face of the dead. 

“ But yet, sire,” ventured the officer, “ I think he bore 
you not much good will as he spoke.” 

“ Hal ” uttered Mapen, starting at this hint. “ What 
said he ? ” 

“ ’Twas not what he said, sire; but in the manner he 
spoke. He expressed great love for Gio, and when your 
name rested upon his lips, ’twas with a scoffing sound, and 
a fire burned in his eyes.” 

“ He cannot harm me, so let him scoff. Though I may 
not lay a finger upon the high priest of Hercules, yet he 
cannot clash with the crown, so there we are even. If he 
scoffs, I can pass him by. His person is not too sacred for 
cool disregard.” 

“Treat him not roughly in your speech,” said Phalis; 
“ for with such a prize as this we can well boot a little of 
priestly tongue; and beside,” continued the prince, lowering 
his voice to a whisper, “ the priest of Hercules has greater 
room in the hearts of the people than has the king! ” 

Mapen started as though a point of steel had entered his 
side, for he knew there was truth in what he had heard. 


104 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


“ Come, Phalis,” he said at length, “ let us retire.” Then 
turning to his officer, he continued, while he gazed again 
upon the rigid face of the corpse : — 

“ Let it remain here to-night, Ebo. Draw the cloth over 
the face, and watch you by it till morning. He was stolen 
from you when alive, see if you can keep your charge now 
that he is dead! ” 

As the king and prince departed, Ebo drew the coarse 
cloth up over the form of Gio, and then closed and bolted 
the door. Some of the lamps were extinguished, and then 
the men divided themselves for equal watches during the 
remainder of the night. They walked silently up and down 
the large vaulted department, and cold shudders crept 
through them as their eyes rested upon that coarse pall. 
Dim spectres seemed flitting around through the air, and 
low, moaning murmurs fell through the stillness. Close and 
more closely gathered those who held the watch to the sides 
of their slumbering companions, and there they stood and 
gazed upon the dark thing they were set to guard. 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


105 


CHAPTER XVI. 

BEN-SATJL. 

It was high noon in the city of Tarsus. Leading from 
the Periopolis was the grand bazaar of the Cilician and 
Perisian merchants, in one corner of which, where the way 
was cleared by guarded copper chains, was a raised platform 
covered with white linen. It was only some ten feet square, 
and raised five feet from the ground. A canopy of crimson 
stuff was suspended overhead to keep off the hot rays of the 
sun, and, perhaps, also to answer a second object, for this 
was the stand where the female captives were offered for 
sale, and the crimson canopy with the pure white of the 
carpeting could not fail of lending a lustre to female charms. 

There were only two occupants of the stand at the present 
time. One stood, in a trembling, shrinking attitude, while 
the other knelt humbly at the other’s feet. This position 
denoted the ranks of the two females. The first was Marina, 
and the other Esther! 

Coarse-looking men stood outside of the copper chain; 
men of the first class stood there, the young men stood 
there, all feasting their eyes upon the beauty of those two 
unfortunate girls, for now that they both stood — or one stood 
and the other knelt — there together, there was loveliness 
alike in each. Both were different, yet both were beautiful. 
Esther looked like a goddess of resignation, with her mild 
blue eyes cast imploringly up into the face of her companion, 
as though she would have said, “Be you, too, resigned.” 
The other looked the more proud — the burning shame sank 
deeper to her soul — her face was scorched with tearless 
misery, and she showed in her every wayward glance and 
attitude how far she had fallen. I say she looked the more 
proud; she showed the pride which circumstances may never 
obliterate from the countenance that has through life drawn 
its light from her heart of virtue and truth, and which crim- 
sons with the tide of noble blood. Esther — poor Esther, felt 
shame — she felt misery and degradation, but she had longer 
been the child of circumstance, and she bore up with the 
more fortitude under this new trial. 


106 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


There was a movement among the crowd outside of the 
cabin. One man passed through the narrow entrance, stood 
a few moments at the foot of the platform, and then passed 
back. Soon there came another, and then another. Each 
gazed scrutinizingly upon the shrinking girls, and then went 
back and talked with the corsair captain who stood outside. 
At length one man talked long and earnestly with the corsair, 
and then the latter came up to the stand and told the girls 
they might come down. They dropped their veils, and then 
they followed their captor. He led them across the bazaar 
to the office of a scribe, whither they were followed by a 
Cilician merchant, who had bargained for them both. 

Writings were soon made out — the corsair received a bag 
of gold, and his eyes sparkled as he clutched the treasure. 
Marina and Esther were sold! 

Ben-Saul, the merchant who had purchased the Tyrian 
girls, was a good-looking man, and though he had passed the 
meridian of life, yet he looked with a good degree of admira- 
tion upon the charms of the fair Marina. He spoke kind 
words to them both, and assured them that they should be 
well cared for, and then turning towards the door he bade 
them follow him. The girls hesitated not to obey, for they 
well knew the strength of the chains that bound them. 

The merchant led the way to the river, where a gorgeously 
trapped barge was in waiting, into which the new-bought 
slaves were handed. A dozen oarsmen sat ready to obey 
the orders of Ben-Saul, and as the latter stepped on board, 
the barge was shoved off, and in a moment more the cool, 
sparkling waters of the Cydnus were clearing before her 
sharp bows. 

The sunbeams danced upon the waters, and the shady 
orange groves upon the banks lent a thousand sweets to the 
air, and so lovely, so enticing was the scene, that Marina 
could not but raise her veil and gaze about upon the picture 
nature had painted there. Birds of many colors flitted to 
and fro and warbled a welcome to the fair strangers, while 
many a bold, confiding dove came and rested upon the sides 
of the awning. 

u This is lovely,” uttered Esther, as she laid one hand 
upon her companion’s arm. Her voice was low and sweet, 
and she seemed entirely buried in the scene that had called 
forth her remark. 

Marina was prepared for this remark, for her own mind 
had been in the same channel, but the moment the remark 
was made the charm was broken. The tale of the scenery 
had been told, the acknowledgment of its loveliness had 


THE ARMORER OP TYRE. 


107 


been made, and with a simple, “ It is, indeed,” she burst into 
tears. 

“ Do not let Ben-Saul see you weep,” said Esther, in a 
low, urging tone. 

“ ’Tis fit he should see me,” returned Marina, “ for he 
must know I cannot be silent.” 

“ Speak not so loud, Marina, for I would not have our 
master hear us.” 

“ Master! ” repeated Marina, with a cold shudder. 

“ Yes, he is our master, and if we would be free we must 
be cautious. Try to cultivate the love of him who owns us.” 

“Oh, heavens! His love! The gods preserve me from 
it,” uttered Marina, in a shrill whisper. “ You cannot be 
in earnest, Esther. To have his love would be to court my 
own ruin. I will tend his oxen, his sheep, his vintage — I 
will carry his burdens, and be his lowest menial, but his 
love, — oh, never.” 

“ You misunderstand me, Marina. I mean that you shall 
so deport towards him that he will think you reconciled to 
your fate. If he thinks you look with favor upon him — that 
you respect and honor him, he will make allowance for your 
maiden modesty, and he will assuredly allow you time to 
become reconciled to the novelty of your situation. He will 
not be unkind nor harsh, if he thinks you capable of return- 
ing his affection, for he will surely love you — who could 
help it ? ” 

Esther gazed earnestly into her companion’s face as she 
spoke, and Marina’s eyes trembled with a faint light as she 
received the unbought compliment. 

“ If you could do this,” continued Esther, “ we might 
contrive some means of escape. Love is powerful in making 
old men blind, and with that talisman alone can we work, 
for once kindle his dislike and your fate is sealed. See you 
not what I mean ? ” 

“Yes.” 

“ Then will you not comply ? ” 

“ I fear I cannot hide my heart.” 

“ You shall not hide it.” 

“ Shall not ? ” 

“ No,” returned Esther, with a sudden animation, while 
her eyes sparkled with a new thought. “ Look around upon 
the beauties that nature has spread out — admire Ben-Saul’s 
gardens and riches, and then let that sweet smile come upon 
your countenance. Hide not your heart. Strengthen it with 
resolution to escape — let it beat with the hope of freedom, 
and with that hope be cheerful. Hope within, beauty without ! 


108 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


Come, Marina, raise your veil once more, and look up with 
a smile. He will think you live in the present; our star of 
joy is in the future.” 

The language — the tone — the thrilling eloquence, and, 
withal, the hope, that thus fell upon Marina’s ear reached 
her soul, and its influence was as sudden as it was powerful. 
She raised her veil, and she looked into the face of Esther; 
there was such a light of gratitude upon her fair features that 
the speaker knew that she succeeded. 

The storm-tossed mariner feels his frail bark sinking 
beneath him — the angry wind howls above him— the cold 
grave yawns beneath him, and naught but the utter black- 
ness of impenetrable night rests upon his sight. He shuts 
his eyes in horror and despair— then sinks upon his knees 
and resigns himself to the God of tempest. He feels a 
shock— the winds change to a thrilling whisper — the waters 
roll back from the fabric that supports him, and when he 
opens his eyes he finds that the flood has cast him upon a 
rocky coast. All around is barren and drear, and all would 
be as black as before, were it not that a single star has 
peeped out from a spot of blue where the clouds have rolled 
apart. His feet touch the hard rock, and he hopes there is 
a welcome rest somewhere beyond the rugged foothold he 
has gained. He is not yet saved, but with a lighter heart, a 
sparkling hope, and a smile of gratitude, he starts forward to 
see if he may not find some home of humanity. He thinks 
not of danger — he dwells not upon the cheerless rocks that 
raise their bleak heads about him, but he has seized upon the 
thought of green fields in the distance, and, till the sun shall 
rise, he trusts to the guidance of that single twinkling star, 
and smiles back its beams as he travels onward. 

Thus felt the fair Marina, and she did smile back the beams 
of her companion’s hope as she resolved to follow her 
counsel. 

Ben-Saul gazed in rapture upon the unveiled face of his 
fair girl, and when he saw the smile that made it a thousand 
times more lovely, he arose from where he sat and stepped 
beneath the silken canopy. 

“ Fair girl,” he said, as he took a seat by her side, “ you 
were never on the Cyndus before ? ” 

“No, sir,” returned Marina, slightly trembling, and drop- 
ping her eyes. 

“ Is it not a beautiful place ? ” 

“ It is, indeed, sir.” 

“ Only a short distance further on is my own residence. 
It is far more beautiful than any you have yet seen. My 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


109 


gardens are full of the sweetest flowers, the choicest fruits 
grow upon my trees, and the cool fountains play around my 
palace. Think you you can be happy there ? ” ' 

Marina hesitated, but at that moment she felt a gentle 
pressure from the hand of Esther, and her resolution came 
back to her aid. Her master had spoken kindly, affection- 
ately, and looking up into his face with a half melancholy, 
half hopeful expression, she returned: — 

“ I hope I may be happy, sir.” 

“ You shall, you shall,” uttered Ben-Saul, and taking her 
fair, white hand he pressed it to his lips. u You shall have 
all that can make you so. You shall be my chosen, chiefest 
wife— the light of my dwelling, and the joy of my heart. 
Servants shall be yours, and your own companion here shall 
keep you company. I will care for you as though you were 
the apple of my eye.” 

Again Marina felt the pressure of Esther’s hand. 

“ You are kind, sir, very kind,” she replied, in a calm 
tone; “ and though to be torn from my home is galling and 
bitter, yet hope bids me not look on the dark phases of my 
life-picture. If I am weak, you will bear with me; if I am 
sad, you will forgive me, and time may bring the bloom of 
joy back to my cheek.” 

She looked imploringly into her master’s face as she spoke, 
and oh, she did look beautiful, transcendently so. Her large 
blue eyes beamed with a soft, liquid light, her bosom swelled 
with the resolution it held, and her features were played up- 
on by the warm blood that coursed beneath her pure white 
skin. The gentle breeze of heaven that swept through the 
canopied pavilion played with her light, glossy ringlets, and 
they looked like fine golden rings trembling on a bed of 
alabaster. Ben-Saul’s face trembled beneath the power of 
admiration and love, and after gazing for a moment in silence 
upon her, he feelingly uttered: — 

“ Ho bloom more lovely can rest upon your cheek — no look 
more kind can find its home there. By the heavens above 
me, you shall be happy.” 

He pressed one more kiss upon the hand he held, and then 
he returned to his former station, for the barge had now 
turned its head towards a spot upon the bank where a flight 
of marble steps led down to the water, beyond which, rising 
amid luxurious gardens and groves of myrtles, oranges and 
cypresses, stood the dwelling of the rich merchant. 

“ Did I not tell you he would surely love you ? ” whispered 
Esther. 

u Yes, yes.” 


110 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


C * ..i.i. ■ • i. 1 


u I knew he would, else he would not have bought you. 
Now beware, Marina, for oh, such love as his — so ardent, so 
passionate — can be kindled to a hatred most fierce. Hope 
on, he is blind now, and may be made blinder still.” 

“ I will,” murmured Marina. 

Ere long the two girls stepped from the barge, ascended 
the marble steps, and then entered the avenue leading to the 
palace. Ben-Saul had not overrated the beauty of the place, 
for all that wealth and taste could procure were spread about 
in abundance, and the scene seemed indeed a very picture of 
paradise. To one who had been reared within the walls of 
Tyre the scene was most strikingly beautiful, and for the 
moment Marina almost forgot that she was a captive. 


CHAPTER XVII. 

THE CONCEALED WATCHER. 

Eye cannot picture a scene more lovely than that which 
greeted the eyes of Marina and Esther on the morning 
following their introduction into the palace of Ben-Saul. 
The apartment where they had slept seemed more like the 
divan of some Indian monarch than like a sleeping chamber, 
and the rich perfumes that ladened the atmosphere seemed 
like the grateful incense of nature to her God. They per- 
formed their ablutions at a fountain of sweet-scented waters 
that gushed up from a marble basin in an adjoining 
apartment, and then went forth to the open closet that 
overlooked the gardens. The sun had arisen in glorious 
splendor, and its warming beams were drinking up the gentle 
dew-drops that lay like diamonds upon the flowers and 
trees. 

“ Oh, that such a spot should be the scene of such misery 
as mine! ” uttered Marina, as her eyes ran over the picture. 

“Ah,” returned Esther, “ you forget. We are not to 
repine yet. Such a scene should inspire us with hope.” 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


Ill 


Marina started and gazed into the face of her companion. 

“I rather feel,” she said, “ that it must make me more 
sad, for its contrast makes more dark my cruel fate.” 

“ Beware, Marina. You promised me that you would 
cherish a different feeling. Do not allow yourself to blame 
Ben-Saul, for he means to do all in his power to make us 
happy. Think not of him, but of those who are far away.” 

It was a kind reproof, and Marina could not but feel its 
justness. She threw her arms about her companion’s neck 
and thanked her, and once more her resolution was firm. 
She saw that the mere act of Ben-Saul was not unkind, but 
rather she saw that he would be all kindness to her in his 
own intent. For some time she gazed around upon the 
gardens, and while she yet sought new objects of interest, 
Esther’s hand was laid suddenly upon her arm. She turned 
an inquiring look upon her companion, and found that her 
eyes were fixed earnestly upon a clump of myrtles that grew 
upon the edge of a marble walk which flanked a jetting 
fountain. 

u What see you, Esther ? ” 

“Look towards those myrtles,” answered she, without 
moving her eyes ; but at the same time pointing with her 
hand. 

“ I do, but I see nothing.” 

“ Wait a moment.” 

“ But what saw you ? ” 

“ A man.” 

“ I have seen a dozen in different parts of the garden 
since I stood here.” 

“Yes, but this one has been watching us for some time.” 

“He is curious, I suppose, to see strangers,” said Marina, 
without having yet bestowed any other thought upon the 
subject. 

“ His curiosity is of a deeper kind than that,” returned 
Esther, turning her eyes from the myrtle grove, and regard- 
ing Marina with an earnest look. “ When first I saw him 
he was standing upon the edge of the fountain, almost 
hidden from sight behind that clump of aloes, but the 
moment he seemed to catch my eye, be left that station, and 
went behind the myrtles, where he has been ever since. 
’Twas by accident he caught my eye, though, for he had been 
watching you.” 

“What looked he like?” asked Marina, now beginning 
to be interested in the affair. 

“ I cannot tell you, I’m sure,” Esther answered, “ for I 
could not see his face plainly, nor much of his body. Only 


112 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


his eyes could I distinguish, but even in those I thought I 
could read a peculiar earnestness. ” 

“ Say you he is there now ? ” 

“ Yes, somewhere, for he could not have gone without my 
seeing him. I have thought once or twice that I saw his 
eyes peering through the spaces between the leaves, but 
’twas only glistening drops of dew. But watch — we shall see 
him again.’’ 

Marina was now fairly awake to earnest curiosity, and 
anxiously she stood and watched the myrtle trees. At every 
movement of a leaf she thought she saw a man and every 
bird that fluttered in the surrounding foliage was sure to 
draw her startled attention. Ten minutes had they watched 
in silence, when some of the leaves were seen to move, but 
instead of dropping back as though jostled by the passing 
breeze, they remained fixed. 

“ There! Mow I can see two eyes,” whispered Esther. 

u I see them,” returned Marina, “ and they are glancing 
upon me.” 

“ See— there’s part of the face.” 

“ Yes,” tremblingly responded Marina, without changing 
her position. 

The leaves fell back, and Marina drew a long breath. 

“ Who can it be ? ” she uttered, when satisfied that those 
two peering eyes had disappeared from sight. 

“ I cannot guess,” returned Esther. 

“It may be some evil eye,” continued Marina, with a 
shudder. 

“ Ay, and it may be some good genius,” added Esther, 
with a smile. 

“ I hope so.” 

And so they both hoped. 

Ere long the man was seen to move away. His step was 
slow, as could be seen by the opaque shadow made along 
behind the shrubbery. The girls watched in vain for the 
moment when he should be revealed, but they yet had the 
satisfaction of knowing that he was gone. The way he took 
was along the shrub-bordered walk that led to the river, and 
when he reached the first angle beyond the flower garden, 
he entirely disappeared. Once or twice Marina thought he 
turned his head towards their closet as she saw his red and 
yellow cap moving along above the tops of the bushes, but if 
she did she saw nothing of his face. 

When satisfied that they should see no more for the 
present of their undefinable watcher, the girls returned to 
the inner apartment, and before they could discuss much 


The Mysterious Watcher. — page 1 1 1 








THE ARMORER 


OF TYRE. 


113 


upon the events that had passed, the door was thrown open, 
and two female servants entered, bearing between them a 
large silver tray upon which was the morning’s meal, con- 
sisting of the finest cake, a flagon of light wine, a dish of 
coffee, and several of the lighter kinds of fruits. The menialt 
spoke not a word, but having set down their burdens they as 
once retired. 

Both the girls partook freely of the viands thus set before 
them, and Marina was even surprised at the command she 
had gained over her feelings when she found herself coolly 
discussing with her companion the merits of the cakes and 
fruit. Had she been told when she stood upon the captive’s 
stand in the bazaar of Tarsus that she could have felt thus — 
that she could have experienced the firmness of hope that 
now nerved her— she would have treated the idea as a taunt 
against her soul’s purest feeling. 

Half an hour passed, and then the servants returned and 
took the tray away. They were as silent as before, and 
moved like curious pieces of mechanism. One of them cast 
a sidelong glance towards the pretty face of Esther, but upon 
Marina they seemed not to dare a look, rather showing by 
their manners that she was a sacred thing. 

When the girls were once more left alone they began to 
converse upon the subject of their unfortunate capture, and 
Marina grew sad and gloomy. Esther tried to revive her 
spirits, but it was of no avail. 

u Come,” said the latter, as she moved her seat nearer to 
her companion, and laid her head upon her shoulder, “ I 
will tell you a pretty story. It is one my father told me.” 

Marina looked up, and though she spoke not, yet the quick 
flash of gratitude that passed over her face told that she 
would like to hear the story. Esther was on the point of 
commencing when the door was again opened, and a female 
entered and informed them that Ben-Saul was about to visit 
them. 

“ Now remember, be firm,” urged Esther, in an imploring 
tone. 

“ Fear not,” returned Marina, as she strove to quiet the 
trembling the announcement had caused. “ I can meet him 
calmly.” 

In a few moments more the merchant entered. There was 
a smile upon his face, and he looked gratified as Marina 
calmly and dignifiedly arose to receive him. He asked her 
to be seated, and then he sat down by her side, and took up 
her hand and kissed it. 

“ How feel you this morning, sweet one?” he asked. 

8 


;* \ rv, , JT r * y\g ■ y >•' 


114 THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 

The words, the tone, grated harshly upon Marina’s ears, 
but nevertheless she called a kind look to her face, and an- 
swered: — 

“ I am much better, sir.” 

Innocent deception was now easier, for she had bent 
herself to the task, and she felt sure she could carry it 
through, so she continued, while she gazed frankly into her 
master’s face. 

“ I felt sad and heart-sick yesterday, for I never before 
ever dreamed of such misery as I endured while exposed to 
the gaze of that unfeeling crowd, who collected about the 
stand upon which I was placed. ’Twas hard, too, to think I 
was a captive, but now 1 feel revived. The beauties of this 
place, the sweet fragrance of the air, and the thousand lovely 
scenes that spread themselves about, all tend to make me 
feel happier; but, sir, what, more than all else, reconciles me 
to my lot, is the kindness of heart that I see dwelling in your 
face. I know that you will respect one of gentle blood, and 
make smooth the path she is to tread.” 

“ Delightful creature! ” cried Ben-Saul, his eyes sparkling 
with unexpected pleasure. “ Everything shall be yours. 
Long have I sought one like you. I have wives, but none 
whom I love as the mother of my children. For two long 
years have I been every week in attendance at the market of 
Tarsus, but no female have I seen, till I saw you, who could 
approach my wish. You, fair Marina, have far exceeded 
it.” 

Marina listened patiently to all this, and she even looked 
thankful for her master’s preference. Then Ben-Saul asked 
her numerous questions concerning her nativity, her habits, 
and the circumstances attending her capture. " To some of 
them she answered truly, while to others she gave prevari- 
catory replies. At the end of over half an hour the merchant 
had expressed himself most perfectly delighted with Ma- 
rina’s wit and good sense, and had also assured her that 
she should have a whole week in which to rest and make 
herself contented in her new home. Then he claimed the 
privilege of kissing her upon the brow, after which he 
retired. 

“ Oh,” murmured Marina, as Ben-Saul’s footsteps died 
away in the distance, “I cannot pass through another such 
ordeal, indeed I cannot. It is all deception, it is base false- 
hood from my heart. If he persists in visiting me, I must 
show him how I loathe the ad vances he makes.” 

“One week,” urged Esther, “ and then” 

“ Then what ? ” uttered Marina, 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


115 


“ Escape,” said Esther, with an encouraging smile. 

“ Oh, if I could think it.” 

“ Hope it! ” 

“ And at the end of a week I shall be the ” 

A cold shudder crept through the poor girl’s frame at 
the thought thus called up, and while she hesitated, Esther 
laid her arm around her neck, and whispered: — 

“ Free! ” 

What a strange thing had become the soul of the fail' 
Marina. As she felt the warm pressure of a friend, and 
heard that simple word, she must ha^ felt sweet hope ouce 
more, for she looked up and smiled. 


CHAPTER XVIII. 

THE MYSTERIOUS WATCHER AGAIN. 

After dinner had been served to the girls in their own 
apartment, they were waited upon by a female servant, 
aged, but yet firm and hearty in appearance, who asked them 
if they would like to walk in the gardens. Of course they 
joyfully accepted the proposal, and at once accompanied 
their conductor. They strolled through the arbors and 
graperies, walked around the fountains and admired the 
many colored fish, stopped and plucked such fruit and 
(lowers as they wished, and listened with interest to the 
information of their guide, with respect to the different 
things they saw. 

Several times during the walk had both Marina and Esther 
fancied they heard the pattering of cautious feet behind 
them, and as often had they turned, but they had seen 
nothing. They had arrived at a point where the way sepa- 
rated into two paths, one leading off towards a small artificial 
lake to the eastward, and the other leading directly back to 
the palace. For some distance the smoothly paved paths 
ran very nearly together, but no view could be obtained 

8 


116 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


from one to the other, as the borders of both were flanked 
with a sort of hedge formed of stunted lemon trees. Towards 
the lake the guide led the way, and shortly after they had 
entered the path the footsteps were heard to the left, and 
ere long they seemed to be only a few feet distant. They 
were hardly perceptible, and evidently the invisible pedes- 
trian was aiming to conceal entirely the sound of his feet. 
The old woman noticed it not, but the girls were keenly 
alive to the dropping even of a leaf, and this steady, cautious 
tread could not escape them. They tried hard to peer 
through the intricacies of the hedge, but the compact foliage 
resisted the extension of their vision, and they gazed inquisi- 
tively and wonderingly, each upon the other. 

Both seemed to understand the silent language, for gradu- 
ally they allowed their conductor to gain distance. The 
footfalls were still to be heard at short intervals, seeming 
anon to start on ahead, and then for a time to remain silent. 

u Marina,” said Esther, in a tone so low that it could not 
reach the ears of the old woman, “ that is our morning’s 
watcher.” 

u So I am confident,” returned Marina, with a calmness 
which, though blended with anxious curiosity, was yet free 
from fear. “ It must be the same, or else some one who is 
equally anxious to watch us.” 

u See that spot ahead where there seems to be a break in 
the hedge ? ” 

Marina npdded assent, and Esther continued: — 
u The steps seem to have stopped there. Let us walk on 
as if to overtake our guide, and when directly opposite we 
will suddenly turn our heads and look.” 

The answer to this proposition was a silent affirmative, and 
with eager steps the girls hurried on. The spot to which 
Esther had alluded was where one of the lemons grew 
slightly apart from its companions, and as they came oppo- 
site to it they both cast their eyes towards it, and on the 
instant they saw T the same sharp eyes that had peered upon 
them from the myrtle grove; or at least, they saw plainly a 
pair of eyes, and the same parti-colored cap. The features 
were not visible, but yet they knew ’twas a man who 
w T atched their course. The invisible started back as his own 
eye-beams were reflected back from the orbs that w^ere bent 
towards him, and in a moment more his steps were heard 
striking off towards the other path, and ere long they were 
entirely lost. 

u That was not an evil eye,” said Esther, when she had 
become assured that their mysterious watcher had gone. 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


m 


u No,” returned Marina, with a sort of blushing hope 
laying its bloom upon her fair countenance. “ Those eyes 
were not surely evil. They had none of the cat-like, snakish 
gleam, but they looked large and warm.” 

u Like the eyes of a watching friend,” added Esther. 

“ Yes, like a friend. The gods grant it.” 
u Perhaps,” said Esther, “ some one may have followed 
us from Tyre, for the vessel that took us might have been 
seen from the harbor.” 

Suddenly Marina trembled and turned pale, and she fairly 
grasped her companion’s arm for support. 

“ Wliat is the matter, dear Marina? ” 

“ It may be some one from Tyre,” uttered the startled girl. 
u The king may have tracked us.” 

“ Then let his messenger take us,” said Esther, in a tone 
of strange firmness. 

“ Oh, that would be as horrible as this.” 
u No, Marina.” 

“ What — not to wed that wicked prince ? ” 

“ You shall not wed him.” 

“ If I am in his power what can save me ? ” 

“ A power mightier than Mapen’s.” 

“ Ah, Esther, there is none mightier in Tyre.” 
u There is! ” 
u Whose ? ” 

“ There are two. One is a noble power; the other full 
as noble, but more dreadful in that it is revengeful.” 

“ But I cannot comprehend,” uttered Marina, gazing into 
her companion’s face with utter astonishment. 

“ Neither can I explain it all,” returned Esther; u but I 
can give you the assurance that the king cannot harm thee. 
Of the powers that will oppose him, I can only say, one is 
such as every wicked ruler may fear — the vengeance of a 
wronged and oppressed people, whose very blood must flow 
at the nod of royal vice. The other is a power more mighty 
still, but upon which my lips are sealed.” 

“ Is it from the gods ? ” asked Marina, in a subdued tone, 
while her eyes seemed open to catch the answer. 

A strange light, seeming a half melancholy smile, over- 
spread Esther’s features, and for a moment she gazed earn- 
estly, affectionately into her companion’s face. Then she 
laid her hand upon Marina’s shoulder, and while a glistening 
tear started out upon her silken lashes, she replied: — 

“ It is more tangible than that. Gio, the armorer of Tyre, 
will hold you above the reach of the king, if he has need.” 
“ That strange man ? ” murmured Marina. 


118 


THE ARMORER OF TYKE. 


44 Yes, and he can save you when all else may fail,” ex- 
claimed Esther. 

44 Who is he ? What is he that he has such power over 
the Tyrian monarch ? ” 

44 I have told thee all,” returned Esther. 44 Gio will save 
thee if once you land in Tyre. Ask no more of him.” 

u But you spoke of the people. How mean you there ? 
The people have no power in Tyre.” 

44 Ah, Marina, you know not what power years of wrong 
may stir up in the bosoms of those whom we look upon as 
loyal subjects of a crown.” 

44 But the king is all-powerful.” 

44 Hay,” said Esther, in a meaning tone. 44 He may find 
it not so. Wrong and tyranny can never be all-powerful.” 

The guide had reached the lake, and turned to wait for the 
girls, so they had no further chance to carry on their con- 
versation. The fish were beautiful, the water was clear and 
cool, and the girls appeared to the old woman to be delighted 
with the scene, and ere long they started on their return to 
the palace. 

The evening’s meal had been eaten, the lamps lighted, 
and Marina and Esther were alone in the gorgeous apart- 
ment that had been assigned to them. Both seemed more 
contented than before, for the former looked calm and peace- 
ful, and the latter was more happy from that simple fact. 

44 This morning,” said Marina, as both she and her com- 
panion reclined upon the soft Persian couch that stood near 
the closet of the balcony, “you promised to tell me a story, 
just as we were interrupted with breakfast. Suppose you 
tell it to me now? ” 

44 With pleasure,” returned Esther. 44 It is a simple story, 
but it will serve to beguile a few of our tedious moments.” 

And thus speaking, she went on to relate the story of 
4 4 The Magic Flower.” 

44 Once there lived near the margin of a small lake a poor 
fisherman, who used to derive all his sustenance from the 
bosom of the bright waters that sparkled before his cot. 
His name was Famedo. He had one daughter, and she was 
so beautiful that the fisherman was almost afraid to have 
her run out of doors lest some envious fairy should carry her 
off; and when Famedo came to name his child, he was at a 
loss what name to give her. She was so beautifully bright 
that he at first thought he would call her Sunlight; but then 
he thought that sometimes people shrank away from the 
light hot sun, and his mind dwelt upon the moon; but the 
moon was always changing, and sometimes it was so stingy 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


119 


of its light that it did not show hardly any of its face. So 
the poor man sat and looked at his child and wondered 
what he should call her. The sun went down, and the dim 
shadows began to fall over the earth, but the moon did not 
rise, and what is more, he knew it would not show itself 
during the whole long night. The fisherman sat at the door 
of his cot, and while he puzzled his brain upon the subject 
of his thoughts, his eyes rested upon the bosom of the lake, 
and suddenly he thought he saw a diamond sparkling within 
the clear waters. At first he was startled, but soon he saw 
that what he had taken for so rich a jewel was nothing but 
a reflection, for on looking up into the heavens he saw a 
most brilliant star loooking down upon the lake. The star 
he knew was always there, and from that moment he loved 
it, and he called his little daughter Starbeam. 

u As Starbeam grew older, she grew more and more beau- 
tiful, and the goodness of her heart was equal to her beauty, 
for she never could bear to see even a fly harmed, nor could 
she look upon suffering without trying to wipe it away. A 
neighboring prince, who had just ascended to the throne, 
often saw her as he rode by when out hunting, and he loved 
her, so that he made Famedo promise that he should have 
her for his wife when she was a little older. He often 
stopped and talked with her, and the more he saw of her the 
more he loved her, and Starbeam began to love him as well. 

“ One day when Starbeam was wandering along by the 
edge of the lake, she saw a flower that grew upon the bank. 
It was one she had seen a thousand times, and as often had 
she stopped and admired its beauty and its fragrance; but 
she had never plucked it, because she loved to see it bloom- 
ing there, and she knew that when once it was taken from 
its stem it would fade away and die. But now Starbeam 
felt sad, for the pretty flower had begun to droop, and its 
leaves were shutting themselves up as though the cruel 
hand of death had touched it with his cold wand. Perhaps, 
thought she, the ground has become dry and hard; so she 
took a stick and loosened the earth about the roots of the 
poor flower, and then she went to the lake and brought 
water in her tiny white hands, which she dropped around 
it. After she had done this, she placed her fingers carefully 
upon the stalk; but no sooner had she touched it than the 
flower began to rise up of itself, and the red and white 
leaves began to spread out as before; but instead of stop- 
ping when they had reached their former position, they 
continued to spread and grow, and soon the flower opened 
so wide that a lovely fairy arose from its bosom and stepped 




120 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


down by the side of Starbeam, after which the flower 
resumed its natural shape. 

44 Starbeam was not at all frightened, for the fairy looked 
so kind and smiled so sweetly that she at once feit at home 
in her presence. 

“‘You may wonder,’ said the fairy, as she kissed Star- 
beam upon the lips, 4 to see me here, and still more to know 
that I came out of that flower; but I will tell you all about it 
in a very few words. A wicked old fairy had a daughter 
whom she thought to be the most beautiful being on earth; 
but one day, when she was praising her child in the pres- 
ence of several other fairies, one of them told her that she 
knew of a being far handsomer than her daughter, and at 
the same time she was imprudent enough to mention me as 
the one to whom she alluded. This made the proud mother 
envious, and she determined to be revenged, and to that end 
she sought me out. She found me more beautiful than her 
own daughter, and in her heart she swore that I must not 
live to rival a child of hers, so she stamped upon the ground, 
and then spitting upon me she changed me into a flower, 
and said that I should live in that form during the allotted 
age of mortals, unless some one picked me from my stem, 
in which case I should die* The rest of my sentence was 
full as wicked, for when I had lived the period of mortal 
life, I was to droop and die unless some kind hand should 
support me, and endeavor to bring back vigor to my frame. 
Who would ever have thought a child of earth would take 
such trouble for a poor flower ? Not I, surely. But you, 
sweet Starbeam, have saved me not only from death, but 
you have released me from the wicked fairy’s power. Long 
years have passed away since I was confined to this spot, 
and the only real joy I have experienced during that time 
has been when you have flitted about me and loved me. 
Oh, how often have I gazed upon your kind face and won- 
dered if you were not good enough to save me; and many 
times, as you have stooped over to enhale my fragrance, 
have I kissed you, though you knew it not.’ 

44 As the lovely fairy thus spoke, she turned and plucked 
the flower from its stem, and then handing it to Starbeam, 
she said: — 

44 4 Here, take this flower and wear it in your bosom; and 
though I may never appear in person to you again, yet if 
danger ever threatens you, I will animate this blossom with 
my own spirit and protect you. Keep it safely, now, and 
cherish it against the hour of need.’ Starbeam looked up 
to thank the fairy after she had placed the flower in her 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


121 


bosom, but she was gone. The beautiful girl looked in all 
directions, but she soon knew that she was all alone, and 
then she would have felt sad, but the sweet fragrance of the 
flower at that moment rose gratefully to her senses, and 
with a bright smile she turned her steps towards her humble 
home. 

“ A long year passed away, and yet the flower was as fresh 
as when it had been first plucked. Often had it saved Star- 
beam from trouble and perplexity, and it had brought plenty 
to the fisherman’s cot. It seemed to grow more fragrant 
and beautiful the longer Starbeam wore it in her bosom, and 
she, too, became more lovely and good. 

u Now opposite to the fisherman’s cot, upon the other side 
of the lake, arose a high, black mountain, and in some of its 
caves lived a wicked genie. This genie had seen Starbeam, 
and so charmed had he become by her beauty, that he deter- 
mined to possess her; so one dark night he stole her away 
from her home and flew with her to the mountain, where 
he confined her in a deep, cold cavern. The next day — 
Starbeam knew it was day, because so long a time had passed 
since she had been shut up there — the genie entered the 
cavern with a huge torch in his hand, and boldly asked her 
to become his wife. The very sight of the hideous monster 
made her cry with terror, and covering her face with her 
hands, she only wept in answer to his detestable persuasions. 
Several times the genie attempted to seize her in his rage, 
but some power held him back, and at length he turned to 
go away, but ere he went he swore by the most terrible oaths, 
that the next time he came she should either become his 
wife, or else he would surely kill her. 

u The ponderous door was fastened once more upon her, 
and in the darkness she sat down upon the cold hard stone 
and wept. Long hours passed away, and though she felt 
not hunger, yet she wondered not at it, for in her misery she 
forgot that she was ever hungry. Again and again the 
wicked genie came, but he gained nothing in his suit, and 
then he swore that he would keep Starbeam there in the cold 
darkness till she acceded to his wishes. A month had now 
rolled away, and yet Starbeam had never once thought of the 
magic flower; but when her terrible master threatened to 
keep her there forever, she sank down in utter despair and 
asked to die. At that moment she felt a warm glow in her 
bosom, and something whispered, ‘Hope!’ Then she re- 
membered her flower, and quickly she drew it forth. It was 
of a dazzling brightness, and a thousand rays of light shot 
out from it and illumined the cavern like the meridian of 


122 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


day. Brighter and brighter grew the flower, until it seemed 
as though all the light of the heavens was confined in that 
one spot, and yet Starbeam’s eyes were able to bear it. 

“ At this moment the great door was opened, and the 
genie entered; but the intense light so dazzled his eyes that 
he had to shut them for fear of being blinded, and then 
Starbeam saw her advantage. The door was open, and 
quickly she darted through it; the leaves of the flower were 
instantly changed into a hundred bright wings, and they 
bore her aloft into the air. The genie saw his mishap, and 
he gave such a roar that the rocks tumbled down about the 
entrance to his cavern in such huge masses that he was 
forever in the bowels of the black mountain, and ever to 
this day, when he roars in his dark prison, the good people 
who live about there think that it is the rolling thunder. 

“ When Starbeam reached her own home she found the 
young king there in the greatest misery at her absence, but 
he was all joy when he once more clasped her to his bosom, 
and he made her go to his palace and become his queen 
at once. Her old father went, too, and spent the rest of 
his days at the rich court of his daughter’s husband. Time 
flew on, and yet Starbeam cherished her flower. At length, 
heaven blessed her with a son, and it was so beautiful that 
the king could hardly leave it for a moment. One day the 
happy mother held her infant to her bosom, and she took 
out the flower to compare its colors with the glow of beauty 
that dwelt upon the features of her son. One was as white 
as the other, and so, too, did each partake equally of the 
rich crimson. Starbeam was happy, and she laid the flower 
upon the table. Soon there came a voice from it, and it 
said, 4 Be ever virtuous, ever kind, ever just, and you will 
need nothing more to make you happy.’ Then the leaves of 
the flower began to wither and die — they rolled and crackled, 
and ere long they lay upon the table a heap of shapeless 
dust. Then a breath of air swept through the room and 
whirled them out at the window, where they were lost to 
human sight forever; but Starbeam was not sad. She looked 
upon her child— it smiled— and she was happier than ever.” 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


123 


CHAPTER XIX. 

THE STRANGE VISITOR AND HIS PURPOSE. 

Marina thanked Esther for her story, and she wished 
that she could but possess that magic flower. 

“ You do possess its magical principles of happiness,” said 
Esther; “ and if you properly exercise them you never can 
be utterly miserable.” 

Marina gazed with surprise into her companion’s face, for 
she began to feel that the armorer’s daughter was after all 
the true mistress. She had betrayed a strength of mind, a 
steadiness of purpose and a keenness of perception which 
she herself could not have exercised, and then, too, she had 
evinced a knowledge and a well of thought and feeling, that 
marked her as one who bore no ordinary stamp of humanity. 

It had grown to be very dark without, and night was 
creeping on apace with its star-gemmed canopy of bluish- 
black. Perhaps the deep foliage that waved over the earth 
made it look darker than it really was; but at all events, it 
was so dark that one would have found little difficulty in 
hiding from even very close pursuers. The girls had leaned 
back upon their couch, and were half buried in dreamy 
forgetfulness, when they were both startled by a low clatter- 
ing near the window of the closet that overlooked the garden. 

Instantly they started up, and without speaking they 
breathlessly hearkened to see if the sound would be re- 
peated. It was repeated, and with tremulous fear Marina 
caught her companion by the arm, and exclaimed: — 

u ’Tis some one entering our apartment! ” 

“Perhaps not,” returned Esther, who was herself slightly 
alarmed. “ It may be ” 

She did not finish her sentence, for at that moment the 
sound was repeated with increased violence, and shrinking 
back nearer to the door that led out into the inner corridor, 
they stood in trembling anxiety. They had left the door of 
the closet open, so as to admit the fresh air, and they could 
plainly see the whole of the window beyond. Not long had 
they stood thus when Marina was confident she saw a dark 
object intrude itself between the open space of the window 


124 THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 

and the foliage beyond; and grasping Esther more firmly by 
the arm, she uttered: — 

“ Come, let us flee from here.” 

“ No, no,” quickly returned Esther. “If it is one who 
intends to visit us, let him come; and then if he meditates 
harm we can easily arouse sufficient help, for there are slaves 
near at hand in the adjoining apartments. If he, or who- 
ever it be, seeks to carry us back to Tyre, we will go. 
Remember the assurance I have given thee.” 

Marina remained more calmly in her place, and gradually 
the dark figure rose above the coping and stood revealed in 
the window. There were lights burning in the apartment, 
but the stranger was shrouded in a large mantle, and nothing 
of his face could be seen. He took a step into the closet, 
and then stopping, he threw the mantle slightly off his head 
and placed his fingers to his lips. 

“’Sh!” issued from his tongue. “Is the daughter of 
Kison Ludim here ? ” 

Marina trembled more violently than before, but Esther 
quickly answered: — 

“She is.” 

“ Then step this way — farther from the walls that join the 
other apartment,” whispered the unknown. 

“ But who are you ? ” 

“One who would befriend you.” 

“ How ? ” 

“ With liberty.” 

“ And to whom would you deliver us ? ” asked Marina. 
The unknown hesitated a moment, and the girls thought 
he trembled with emotion. 

“ I said you should have liberty,” he at length returned. 
“ Will not that satisfy you, Marina? ” 

The fair girl started forward a step and stopped. That 
voice thrilled to her soul, and she thought she knew its tones. 
“ Who are you? speak! ” she uttered, leaning forward. 
The unknown threw his eyes about him with a quick, 
searching glance, and then he let the mantle fall from his 
shoulders. The soft light of the golden lamps fell upon the 
aged features of Kison Ludim! With a stifled cry Marina 
darted forward and found a warm home within her father’s 
embrace. 

“ Not dead, not dead! ” she murmured, as she gazed up 
into the tear-wet face of her parent. 

“ No, no, my child, but a captive like yourself,” returned 
he, as he pressed his daughter once more to his bosom. 

“ Oh, I thought you were drowned.” 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


125 


“ Ha, and did the king so give it out ? ” 

“ l r es; he said you accidentally fell overboard.” 
u Oh, the villain! ” 

“But how is it, father? What is this? Did the king 
dare to sell you into slavery ? ” 

“ Ho, my child,” returned the old man, while his features 
were harrowed by a painful look, “ he sold me to my death. 
After I had refused him your hand for the prince, he 
engaged me in the pretended embassy to Sidon, but he had 
in reality given orders for me to be thrown overboard as 
soon as we were out of sight of land. The captain of the 
vessel would have surely done the fatal deed, but he chanced 
to fall in with a Cyprian corsair, and in the height of his 
cupidity he sold me for a hundred ounces of silver. I was 
exposed in the market at Tarsus, and Ben-Saul bought me 
for an under superintendent. I have not told my rank, nor 
does he know from whence I came. ,1 saw you when you 
were brought hither, and though your veil was down, yet I 
felt sure that ’twas you. This morning I watched you from 
the myrtles, and this afternoon I followed you through the 
garden. I saw you plainly, and I even felt a thrill of joy, 
for I knew that you were not in the clutches of Mapen. I 
did not dare that you should see me, for fear that the 
surprise would cause you to expose me.” 

“ And shall we escape from here, father? ” 

“ l r es, or die; but we have not much to fear, for I have 
possessed myself of a key that will let us out to the river, 
and once there we can easily obtain a barge. Y'ou shall tell 
me anon of the strange circumstances which brought you 
here; but now we must be on the move, for time is precious. 

But your companion here ” 

u She is the daughter of Gio.” 

“The armorer?” 

“ Yes, and to her we both owe much.” 

“ And she shall be rewarded; but come — I will hear the 
story at another time.” 

Ludim grasped Esther warmly by the hand as he spoke, 
and then he turned towards the window. Here he gazed 
carefully around, and having become satisfied that no one 
was stirring, he beckoned for the girls to step forward. He 
had brought ropes with him, with which to facilitate the 
descent, and having prepared a sort of noose, he asked 
Marina if she dared trust herself to be lowered by it. 
u Anything — everything I dare,” she quickly replied. 
Ludim passed the noose over her head, and then adjusted 
it under her arms, and making sure that the knot was safe, 


126 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


and that the rope would give no pain, he requested her to 
sit down upon the coping. She unhesitatingly obeyed, and 
then she gradually eased herself from her seat, until she 
hung by the rope, and thus she was safely landed upon the 
ground below. Esther followed her companion’s example, 
and then securing the rope to a brazen bolt in the casing, 
Ludim followed them. 

Already the girls felt like freed birds, but they knew there 
was much yet to be passed ere they could be free, for a long 
way lay between them and the goal of their hopes. For 
several moments the small party remained where they 
landed, listening to see if the breeze bore upon its bosom 
the sound of danger. But all was quiet, and at length the 
old man whispered for Marina and Esther to follow him. 

“ Be cautious, now,” he said, “ and let not even your robes 
drag upon the pavement, lest they should start a rolling 
pebble. Stoop below the shrubbery, and keep your ears and 
eyes open; come.” 

Stealthily they crept along the marble walk that led to the 
river, stopping occasionally to listen, and then again pushing 
slowly, cautiously on. Half the way had they gained, and 
perhaps more, when Esther, who was behind, suddenly 
uttered an exclamation of alarm. 

“ What is the matter ? ” breathlessly asked Ludim, as he 
bent lower and turned back. 

“ Hark! ” returned Esther, straining her ears towards the 
palace; “ I heard loud voices, and they sounded as though 
they were responding to an alarm.” 

“Oh, heavens, we are detected I ” cried Marina, upon 
whoes ears the sound now fell. 

Ludim tremblingly arose to his feet and gazed towards the 
palace. The confusion was plainly to be heard, and he did 
not fail to distinguish the voice of Ben-Saul among the rest. 

“I fear they have indeed discovered our flight,” mur- 
mured the old man. 

“ They have! ” cried Esther; “ for see — there are moving 
lights and persons hurrying to and fro in the chamber we 
have left.” 

“Then let us fly to the river,” cried Marina, springing 
towards her father and grasping him by the arm; “ fly to the 
barge and put off at once.” 

“That would be madness, child,” returned the old man, 
still straining his eyes towards the palace; “ we should be 
taken at once if we trusted to the river now.” 

“They are coming this way!” exclaimed Esther; “we 
must flee somewhere. The deep foliage will hide us.” 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


127 


A moment Ludim listened, and his lips quivered as he 
heard the sound of hastening footsteps on the pavement of 
the same walk in which he stood, and in another instant the 
gleam of the torch-light shot through the open spaces 
between the intervening boughs. 

“ Come, come! ” cried the old man, in a hoarse whisper, 
“ follow me quickly. Here, Marina, give me your hand, and 
you, Esther, take hers. There is an opening ahead, a sort 
of by-path, that leads entirely out of the garden through a 
wicket that is never closed. Come.” 

As Ludim spoke, he grasped his child by the hand and 
hurried on. The pursuers were now frightfully near, but 
the curving of the path yet protected them from sight. At 
a short distance the old man came to a narrow, graveled 
walk, turning off to the left, and entering this, he pushed on 
with all the speed he could command. Fear, the hopes of 
liberty, and the picture of home, lent wings to their feet 
and swiftly they glided along the narrow way. At length 
they reached the garden wall. The wicket gate was open, 
and they passed through, but hardly had they gained the 
opposite side, when the footfall of a pursuer was heard, and 
in a moment the flashing of a torch broke along the path. 

“We must hide,” exclaimed Ludim, as he saw at a glance 
that to run further would be useless. “ Here— within these 
bushes; in — quick!” 

The old man sprang in among the shrubbery and pulled 
Marina after him, while Esther sought a hiding place a few 
feet further on. They had hardly become nestled in their 
places, when the torch-bearer came running up. He was a 
stout fellow, and Ludim instantly recognized him as one of 
Ben-Saul’s boatmen, a brutal man, who took no greater 
pleasure than in whipping and beating those who might be 
placed under his charge. He was alone, and as the old man 
could hear no one following, he at once judged that only a 
single messenger had been sent in this direction. The 
fellow came up to where lay Ludim and passed, but in an 
instant more he stopped. His torch had flashed upon the 
crimson mantle of Esther! 

“ Aha! so you’re here, are you ? ” he exultingly exclaimed, 
as he sprang forward and pushed aside the foliage. “ Come 
forth and show yourself.” 

As the pursuer thus spoke, he grasped the poor girl by the 
arm and ruthlessly dragged her out into the path. 

“ Where is your mistress ? ” he asked, as he held the torch 
up to her face, and discovered which of the girls he had 
found. 


128 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


“ I don’t know. Let me go! ” shrieked Esther. 

“ You do know. Oh, you needn’t struggle in that fashion; 
you can’t escape me. Now tell me, where is your mistress ? ” 

The poor girl uttered a low cry of pain as the unfeeling 
man’s gripe fastened itself more tightly around her quivering 
arm, but she gave him no answer. 

Ludim laid his hand upon the hilt of a dagger he wore 
within his bosom, and drew it forth. All depended now 
upon his coolness and fortitude, and he knew that a single 
moment thrown away might form the link that should bind 
him in the chains to helpless misery. The messenger’s back 
was turned towards him — he was struggling with Esther, and 
the torch, which had fallen to the" ground, cast a fitful 
glare over the scene. 

The old man grasped the dagger more firmly in his hold, 
and he noiselessly, but quickly, crept out into the path. A 
single moment his eye searched for the spot where a blow 
would do its fell work, and then he sprang upon the brutal 
boatman. The bright blade reflected back one gleam of the 
torch-light, and then, ere the ruffian could see who it was 
that touched him, its hilt rested upon his breast — the blade 
had sank deeper in and found his heart! 

A low groan broke the air— then a stifled cry — and the 
boatman reeled against the shrubbery. Ludim let go his 
hold, and the corpse fell within the very place where Esther 
had hid herself. 

The old man stopped not to look upon his work, but 
thrusting the dagger into its sheath, he stooped down and 
grasped the torch, and then listening an instant to see that 
none others followed him, he dashed out the flame and cast 
the smoking stump away. 

“ Come, come,” he cried. “ Let us on once more. There 
are barges ahead.” 

The wa} r seemed darker than ever, but with renewed hope 
the trio pushed on, and ere long the waters of the Cydnus 
were in sight. 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


129 


CHAPTER XX. 

THE BARGE AT SEA. 

Kison Ludim led the way down to the edgo of the river, 
and with quick steps the party of fugitives hastened along 
in the path which the fishermen had trodden upon the bank. 
It was now nearly daylight, the atmosphere was cool, and a 
somewhat fresh breeze came sweeping down the river. At 
the distance of nearly two miles from the gardens of Ben- 
Saul, they came to the grounds of another dwelling, which 
stood back from the river. Here they found boats, and 
bidding the two girls to remain behind, the old man crept 
cautiously forward towards the landing steps, to see if the 
place were watched. No sound, however, met his ear, nor 
could he detect anything of the guardsmen. He reached the 
boats, and after a few moments’ search he found a barge 
that suited his purpose, the chain of which was only hooked 
into a staple upon the shore. 

Having satisfied himself upon these points, Ludim has- 
tened back and bade the girls follow him, and ere long the 
three were seated in the barge. The chain was cast loose, 
the bows shoved off, and beneath the influence of the wind 
and a gentle current, the craft was swept slowly down the 
river. When a point had been gained where they were 
clear of the chance of detection, Ludim loosened the sail, 
and soon the barge was gliding rapidly onward. 

Marina now related to her father all that had transpired 
since his disappearance, and as she closed her narrative he 
sank into a fit of deep musing, which for some minutes was 
only disturbed by the attention that was necessary for the 
guidance of the barge. Part of the time his eyes rested 
upon Marina, and anon they dwelt upon undefined space. 

“You say Gio has sworn to protect you from the king?” 
he said at length, with a peculiar earnestness in his manner. 

“Yes, he has, my lord,” interrupted Esther; “and he 
will do it, too.” 

“ How know you that ? ” asked Ludim. 

“ Because he has said so, and he is able to do it,” quickly 
returned Esther. 


9 


130 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


44 He is your father, I think you said ? ” 

44 Yes, sir.” 

44 And yet I knew not that Gio had a child when he was in 
the service of Strato,” pursued the old man, in a half 
thoughtful, half searching manner. 

Esther turned away her head and looked into the dark 
water. Night would have hidden the color that came to her 
cheek, and covered the tremulousness that played with her 
features, for she was some distance from her interlocutor; 
but she turned away her face, nevertheless. When she 
spoke, however, her voice was calm. 

44 No wonder, my lord, for when my father let himself to 
the elder Strato, he chose not to let his own child, too. I 
came to him only after he took a house of his own.” 

44 And where lived you during the long years of your 
father’s bondage ? ” continued the old man, more in a mood 
of curiosity than of design. 

44 On the main land, sir.” 

Ludim seemed not to notice the equivocal turn of the 
reply he had received, and again he sank into a reverie. 

44 Look out, my lord,” uttered Esther. 

The man raised his head and found that the barge was 
hauling in upon the shore. With an exclamation about his 
own neglect he put off again, and then turning to Esther, 
he remarked: — 

44 Your father does not wear the features of a Tyrian.” 

The girl made no reply, and after a moment’s pause, 
Ludim continued: — 

44 Was he born in Tyre ? ” 

44 1 think not, my lord.” 

44 What country was it, then, that gave him birth ? ” 

44 There are other cities in Phoenicia besides Tyre, and of 
the same country.” 

44 Ah, then he is a Phoenician ? ” 

44 1 was very young, my lord, when Gio came to Tyre.” 
Ludim started, for he saw that the girl was evading his 
question. He regarded her a short time in silence, and then 
he mused again. Could he have distinctly seen Esther’s 
face he would have surely been puzzled by the expression 
that rested there. It was not one of reverie, nor yet of 
reflection of any kind, but it was a strange sparkling of the 
eyes, and a curious playing of the muscles of the face. 

44 You said the high priest of Hercules aided the armorer 
in your concealment?” at length resumed he. 44 Did they 
seem to be on terms of understanding with each other ? ” 

44 Perfectly.” 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


131 


“ Do you understand the nature of the intimacy between 
Balbec and your father? ” asked the old man of Esther. 

“ Such a question as that, my lord, you well know I cannot 
answer, for the priests are set apart from men of the world, 
and if by chance my ear hath drank in things the world knows 
not of, I am not at liberty to give them to others.” 

“There is no use in questioning her further,” said 
Marina, laying her hand upon her father’s arm; “ for I have 
asked her the same questions in vain. She has been kind, 
very kind, to me, and let us thank her, rather than fret her 
with questions she does not wish to answer.” 

“You are right, my child,” returned Ludim, in a freer 
tone; and though from that time he alluded not to the 
subject again, yet the matter therein hidden seemed to bear 
heavdy on his mind, for he showed it in all his movements. 

The barge now approached the city of Tarsus, and soon 
the fugitives were sailing past the place where they had 
been exposed for public sale. Ludim forgot his subject of 
meditation for the time, and turned his attention to guiding 
his craft clear of danger. One or two boats were moving 
about in shore, and a vessel was coming up from the sea. 
The old man carefully watched everything about him, and 
though the fear of being overhauled by some busy-body gave 
him some concern, yet the wind was fresh, and he was fast 
passing away from the scene of his danger. The captain of 
the entering vessel hailed him in Arabic, and merely return- 
ing a commonplace salutation, he sped on. 

At length the barge bade a murmuring farewell to the 
cool waters of the Cydnus, and put forth her head into the 
Mediterranean. A short time she sped on, borne along by 
the breeze, and then Ludim found that he had miscalculated 
in a very important particular. The breeze that had treated 
his frail bark so kindly while shielded by the banks of the 
river, became quite another thing now that he had got some 
miles out to sea. The girls began to feel sick, and the 
noviciate commander was not a little uneasy. He had thought 
it would be easy to run down somewhere on the coast or 
Phoenicia, and there land and proceed on foot to a seaport 
where a passage to Tyre could be obtained; but such a 
chance began now to look dubious. 

In his intense desire to escape from captivity he had had 
his mind only upon two points — the chains he was leaving 
behind, and the coast he was to gain; he had thought not of 
how he was to reach there. Seriously Ludim meditated upon 
turning the barge’s head about and running back into the 
river; but there was one difficulty in the way— he could not 

8 


132 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


do it. He understood how to run her before the wind, but 
he had little idea of the modus operandi to be observed in 
getting along against the wind, especially in such a sea-way. 

It was so dark that the coast was now entirely lost to 
view, and once Ludim attempted to put the barge upon a 
more southerly course, for in that direction he knew the land 
must lay; but the experiment came near proving fatal to 
him for as the craft came broadside to the wind she liked 
to have gone over. As a last resort he lowered his sail, 
determined not to be driven further out to sea than possible, 
and then stationed himself once more at the helm, bent 
only upon keeping the barge from getting cradled in the 
trough of the sea. 

The girls were now fairly sick, though the peril that stared 
them in the face kept them from sinking beneath it. The 
light river-barge tossed and heaved upon the waves, and 
minus even her sail, she was taking a deal of wind upon 
her high, clumsy stern, and driving fast out to sea. 

After long, tedious hours had passed away, the morning 
came, and as its first gray streaks lit up the horizon, Ludim 
strained his eyes about him on all hands in search for land, 
but nought save one vast, watery expanse, capped by its 
blue arch, met his gaze. The sea was running high, lifting 
and sinking the light barge upon its crests and in its billows 
— rocking and tossing it about like a feather upon a ruffled 
pool, anci the old man began to think of resigning himself to 
death. From the perils that now beset him he knew of no 
escape. A power mightier than that of earth now held him, 
and in its hand he was as clay beneath the touch of the 
potter. As it grew lighter, he stood up and gazed more 
intensely about, but the same interminable blue reached to 
the horizon all around. The girls had sunk beneath the 
power of sickness and fatigue, but now they opened their 
eyes and started up. Marina uttered a sharp cry of anguish 
as she read the tale that was so fearfully written upon her 
father’s countenance, and crawling up to a seat by his side, 
she gazed earnestly upon him, while Esther, with a quickly 
beating heart, strained her sharp eyes away over the 
heaving sea. 

“ Father, we are lost! ” murmured Marina, in a tone that 
seemed to beg for a ray of hope. 

“Lost!” iterated the old man, with painful hesitancy. 
u Alas, that I should be so thoughtless! Lost! And thou, 
too, my child! O God, have mercy on us! ” 

Marina’s noble heart threw off its whole load of fear as 
she realized her father’s agony, and she tried to soothe him. 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


133 


u Oh, my child,” he returned, while he raised his trem- 
bling hand and swept it with a slow motion about towards 
the horizon, “ look at the wide grave that yawns for us! I 
will not, I cannot express a hope I do not feel. Every wave 
that breaks upon us lends some of its bulk to weigh us down 
nearer to that grave. Let us be prepared for the worst. 
See, the sun has risen, and its beams are lightingup our cold 
resting-place. We shall never see it again! ” 

As the old man spoke, a wave broke over the barge, 
drenching its inmates to the skin. Marina hid her face in 
her father’s bosom, while he, with a nervous grip, still held 
his craft before the wind. Esther had raised herself upon 
a high, trunk-like cuddy that was arranged around the mast, 
and in silence she was still sweeping the dim horizon with 
her straining eyes. Kison Ludim gazed upon her in wonder, 
for so dauntless, so majestic even, looked she as she stood 
there that he almost for the moment forgot the dangers 
that circled about him. 

At length the fair watcher raised herself upon tip-toe, 
grasped the mast more firmly, and strained her neck to its 
utmost. Her eyes were fixed upon a point on the western 
horizon, where she had caught a speck of glistening white- 
ness, that looked like a swimming sea-bird. More and more 
earnestly she gazed, and ere long she uttered a low cry of 
joy, for as the barge raised upon the bosom of a swelling 
sea, she knew that she looked upon a sail! 

As she sank upon the seat by the side of Marina, Ludim 
sprang to his feet. The sail could now be distinctly seen as 
the sun played upon its white surface, and with a new life 
coursing through his veins the old man hastened to raise a 
signal of distress. He cast off the red mantle from his 
shoulders, and having secured it to the halyards which were 
used for the owner’s pennant, he run it up. The breeze 
caught its crimson folds and spread them flauntingly upon 
its bosom. Nearly an hour of painful anxiety passed away, 
and during that time the stranger was fast nearing the barge. 

“ They see us — thank the gods, they see us! ” at length 
broke from Ludim’s lips, and with a firmer hold he swayed 
the tiller as the sea swept against the broad rudder. 

And so it proved, for as the old man spoke, the vessel 
slightly changed her course and stood directly for the barge, 
and in another half hour she was alongside. A line was 
thrown — Ludim caught it — the boat was drawn up beneath 
the vessel’s bulwarks, and ere long the three fugitives stood 
upon the deck of a Tyrian war-ship. Armed men thronged the 
decks, and bright spears gleamed in the morning sunlight. 


134 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


4 4 As I live,” cried the captain of the ship, 44 Kison Ludim 
has come to life! ” 

The old man gazed about him but made no reply. 

44 By all the gods! ” continued the captain, as his eye fell 
upon Marina, 44 and this is his fair daughter. Is’t not so, 
Ludim ? ” 

44 That girl is my child, sir,” said Ludim. 

44 Ho, there! let go your laziness and spring to your posts. 
Our head is now for Tyre.” 

44 Can you not land us at Sidon ? ” asked Ludim. 

44 Ho,” answered the captain, with a sparkling eye. 44 We 
go to to Tyre, where five hundred pieces of gold are mine 
if I get yon beauty safely to the king.” 

There was a rattling among the ropes, a flapping of the 
sails, the ship drifted a moment as she lost her headway, 
and then, as the broad canvass caught the breeze again, she 
started once more on her way — and that was the way to 
Tyre! 

44 This is better than the frail barge,” whispered Esther, 
whose face was lighted up with radiant hope. 

44 Alas! ” murmured Marina, 44 ’twould be hard to choose 
between the cold, quiet grave we have escaped, and the fate 
that now awaits us.” 

44 Courage, courage. Look up, Marina. Hope never dwells 
at your feet — it is a habitant of the skies! ” 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


135 


CHAPTER XXI. 

ONE MYSTERY CLEARED— ANOTHER DARKER STILL. 

The sun had sunk into the blue bosom of the Mediter- 
ranean, and twilight had cast its gauzy mantle over Tyre. 
The king was in his divan sipping from a golden cup which 
a slave had just filled with wine. 

“ Phalis,” he said, “ what have we now to fear? That 
strange armorer is dead and buried, and there are none now 
to thwart us.” 

“ Strato is still at large,” returned the prince. 

“ Strato! ” uttered Mapen, with a sarcastic curl of the lips. 
“ He’s a boy, Phalis. We have nothing to fear from him.” 
“ But the daughter of Kison Ludim is not in our power.” 
“ I care not for that, so long as she shows not herself in 
Tyre,” said the king. u But if she does come, she is ours.” 
Phalis gazed hard upon his father, and a shadow passed 
over his countenance, for he knew that the king spoke not 
from cool judgment. The wine cup gave him the senti- 
ments he uttered. 

“ Ha! who have we here ? ” 

“ Sire! ” exclaimed a messenger, entering at that moment, 
u there are signals from the shore.” 

“ Ah, and what say they ? ” 

“ One of your ships is approaching.” 

“ From whence ? ” 

“ The north.” 

“ Now start thee, Phalis, and call up the guard! ” shouted 
the king, as he cast the wine cup upon the floor, and sprang 
to his feet. “ From the north! Her signal ? ” 

“ The crown,” answered the messenger. 

“Then, by my royal diadem, the bird is caged at last! 
Haste, Phalis, for ’tis our chiefest ship that is coming in.” 
With eager steps the prince hastened upon his mission, and 
after he had gone the king dwelt in a hopeful, merry mood. 
The fumes of the wine had gone before the excitement of 
the news he had received, and with a cooler head he awaited 
the coming of further intelligence. 

Three hours flew by. 


136 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


Mapen had grown uneasy and nervous, but the sound of 
approaching steps called a flush of expectation to his face, 
and in a moment more the doors were open. The prince 
entered first, and by the hand he led the trembling Marina. 
The king was upon the point of uttering an exclamation of 
joy, when his eye fell upon another object that made him 
turn pale. 

“Eternal heavens! Has the sea given up its dead ? ” he 
ejaculated, while he strained his eyes upon the haggard 
features of Ludim. 

“You see me once again, sire,” returned the old man, 
meeting the gaze of his monarch with a steady eye. 

“ Why is not thy spirit in the other world, old dotard ? 
They told me you were drowned.” 

“ Then they lied to you, sire. I was not drowned, as you 
may well see.” 

“ And so they did lie, good Ludim,” returned the king, 
in a tone which played dubiously between sarcasm and ill- 
affected concern. “ 1 have mourned thy loss as of one who 
was irredeemably gone; but, thank the gods, you have been 
restored to us in right good sense.” 

“ I trust it may prove so,” said Ludim. 

“ You must have had a narrow escape,” intimated Mapen. 

“ Very,” returned the old noble, with a kindling eye. 

“ Some stray timber, or a vessel, perhaps ? ” 

“ ’Twas neither, sir.” 

“ How ? You did not surely swim ? ” 

“ Ho, I ran.” 

Mapen bent eagerly forward, and a pallor overspread his 
features. 

“ I ran,” continued Ludim. “ How, king, you need not 
utter falsehood more. I was not cast into the sea, as you 
so kindly provided for me. You gave your mission to one 
who loved gold too well for that, and he sold me into cap- 
tivity. How, sire, helpless and defenceless, I await your 
royal pleasure.” 

Many shades of emotion passed over the face of the 
monarch, as these words slowly and distinctly fell upon his 
ear. At first he turned pale with fear, but soon the strug- 

f ling ceased, and he looked the proud, determined king — a 
eep fire was in his eye, and resolution sat upon his brow. 
“Ludim,” he said, “I did order your death, for you 
would have thwarted me, but since that power is no longer 
yours you may live; but every soul of that vessel’s crew who 
took you away shall die! You shall live to be the father of a 
queen! ” 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


137 


u Mercy, sire! ” cried Marina, falling upon her knees at the 
monarch’s feet. “ Do not force me to this. I am but a 
humble girl, and not fit to be the wife of a king.” 

“ Thou art just the one; so arise, my fair lady.” 

As Mapen spoke he took the poor girl by the hand, and 
raised her up. She felt no spirit of resistance, nor did she 
think of opposing fate further. Her face was one speaking 
mirror of heart-broken misery, and bowing her head in 
anguish she sobbed aloud. 

“ Sire,” cried the aged father, for the first time moved to 
supplication, “ give over this strange scheme. Take pity on 
the poor girl you thus condemn to lasting misery.” 

“ It cannot be done,” decidedly answered the king. 

“ Oh, say not so! Hear me, hear me, sire,” supplicated 
Marina, once more gaining power to speak. u I cannot love 
your son. I should but make him a miserable, unhappy 
wife — my tears would ever bedew our bridal way, and my 
moans of anguish would be the only song of my heart. 
Grant my prayer — O sire, grant it! ” 

“ Will you not listen, sire ? ” urged Ludim. 

“ I cannot. She must marry the prince.” 

“ But why ? ” 

“ Because ” 

u Because what, sire ? ” anxiously begged the old man, as 
the monarch hesitated. 

For several moments the king regarded the party before 
him in silence; then he turned and motioned for the soldiers 
to leave the apartment and wait without. 

“ Call upon me, to-morrow,” he said to the captain of the 
ship, “ and my treasurer shall count to you the gold I 
promised.” 

When the doors were closed, Mapen bent upon the old 
man a peculiar look, and with his lips half shut together, he 
said: — 

u Kison Ludim, I have not sought the hand of your 
daughter for my son because he bears her much love, nor 
is it to me that the blame attaches. There is a power above 
mine that has decreed this thing.” 

“ And that power ” 

“ Is the Oracle! ” uttered Mapen, in a trembling voice. 

“ And has the Oracle of Hercules truly said that the prince 
must wed my daughter ? ” asked Ludim, starting forward. 

“ Ay,” answered the king. u So hath it spoken.” 

“ Then the will of the gods be done! ” murmured the old 
man, and turning to his daughter he said, while he laid his 
trembling hand upon her fair brow: — 


138 


THE ABMOBEB OF TYBE. 


44 We may not resist or implore further. The god hath 
spoken — we will humbly bow to the fiat. Good may come 
out of it, though now we see it not.” 

44 And this then is my fate? ” fell from Marina’s lips, as 
she gazed mournfully up into the monarch’s face. 

44 ’Tis as the gods have spoken,” said Mapen, in a calm 
but yet triumphant tone. 

44 ’Tis false!” uttered a musical voice, and at the same 
moment Esther stepped forward and took the poor girl bv 
the hand. 

44 Ha! What is this?” cried the king, shaking like a 
Wind-driven bough. 

44 1 say you speak falsely!” returned Esther, looking 
* calmly upon the monarch. 

44 Ye gods ! how came this mad girl here ? Who are ye ? ” 

44 One that knows what the Oracle spoke,” answered the 
undaunted girl. 

44 Out upon thee, thou daughter of Tartarus!” cried the 
enraged Mapen. 44 The god spoke as I have said.” 

44 What good can come out of this, thou daring king ? Can 
aught of thine change the revelation of the Oracle ? or dost 
think to grasp the decree and fashion thine own interests 
to it ? ” 

The king, the prince, and all, gazed in wonder upon the 
strangely working features of the bold young girl who had 
thus spoken. Mapen’s anger changed to astonishment of 
the blankest description. 

44 What babbling is this?” he asked at length. 44 What 
mean you, girl? ” 

44 1 mean what I say, king. The Oracle said not that 
Marina should wed with your son.” 

44 Ha! and what words spoke it then ? ” quickly asked 
Ludim. : 

44 Its words were these: 4 She who dwells beneath the 
roof of Kison Ludim, and is called Marina, shall be Queen 
of Tyre!’” 

44 Ay, by marrying the prince, my son! ” exclaimed Mapen, 
suddenly starting from his fear. 

44 It said not so,” returned Esther. 

44 But so it must have meant, and so it shall be,” madly 
cried the monarch. 

Esther smiled— a smile so strange, so deep, that Mapen 
was more startled by it than by the words she had spoken. 

44 By the gods! ” he uttered, 44 tell me who thou art ?” 

44 The daughter of an honest man,” she answered. 44 Gio, 
the armorer of Tyre, is my father.” 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


m 


“ Ha! A fit daughter for such a sire.” And then, while a 
grim look of triumph passed over his features, he added: — 
u Such poisonous fruit will soon wilt and die after its 
parent stem is cut down. Now take heed to thyself how 
that tongue of thine wags, for thv father can no longer 
protect thee.” 

“ You know him not, sir king.” 
u I know that he is dead! ” 

u Dead I ” shrieked Esther, starting forward and gazing 
intently into the monarch’s face. “ Said you he was dead ? ” 
“He is.” 

“ And you caused it! ” 

“ No, no,” involuntarily dropped from Mapen’s lips, as he 
fairly quailed before the fierce fire that beamed from out the 
eyes of the being before him. 

“ Then how died he ? How?” 

“He died in the temple, and Balbec sent his body hither; 
so I know and rejoice that he is safely dead.” 

A long moment Esther gazed earnestly into the king’s 
face — then a peculiar shadow flitted across her features, and 
in tones of marked emphasis she said: — 

“O king! ’tis well for thee thy hand did not this deed.” 
“Would your fair hand have avenged him?” said the 
king, in mocking tones. 

“ Yes! ” exclaimed Esther, her eyes flashing forth sparks 
that seemed to come from two orbs of deep fire. “ Had 
hand of yours harmed but a hair of Gio, your gorgeous 
palace should have been your funeral pyre, and upon your 
foul carcase the carrion bird should have satiated! ” 

The inspired girl stood like a goddess. Her right foot 
was extended, her fine cut nostrils dilated, and her finger 
pointed significantly downward. One step Mapen made in 
advance, but there he stopped. A minute he stood irreso- 
lute, and then turning to his son, he said, while he fain would 
have forced a look of unconcern to his features: — 

“ She shall be your wife, Phalis. This poor girl has lost 
her senses.” 

“ She must be mine,” returned the prince; but in tones so 
faltering that the words seemed unconsciously uttered. 

“ She shall be yours to-night. What ho! Without there.” 
A soldier entered. 

“ Go bid the priest Abdalzar, that he attend me here. 
Tell him, too, there is need of haste.” 

Marina gazed inquiringly into the face of Esther. 

“All hope is gone!” she murmured, while her bosom 
heaved painfully. 


140 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE, 


u Not all Let this thing go on.” 

“ But your father’s gone.” 

“ I have another! ” 

Marina started at the strange words, but at that moment 
she met the eye of the king, and with a cold shudder she 
turned towards her father. He clasped her to his bosom, 
but ’twas with a trembling embrace, and the word “ destiny ” 
fell from his lips. 


CHAPTER XXII. 

THE INSURRECTION. 

IT lacked half an hour of midnight. Dark clouds had been 
piling themselves up in the heavens till they reached the 
zenith, and now they hung o’er the city of Tyre like the black 
pall of death. There was no break in the sable mass — no 
single spot by which to tell that the sky had not always 
been as black as now. A mournful wind went chanting 
through the long avenues and among the cypress trees, and 
small drops of rain began to descend and patter upon the 
pavement. Brawlers had shrunk from their nocturnal orgies 
in the streets, and sought the shelter of their dwellings, 
where their revels would still break occasionally upon the 
night air. Along the walls the sentinels had crept into their 
niches, and there they stood peering forth into such thick 
darkness, that it seemed as though their spear-heads would 
have cleared it. The waves dasned strangely against the 
rocks without, and their harsh voices seemed joined with 
tae wind in mournful wailings. Where a lamp sent forth 
its dim rays from some open window, it looked a 
fiery eye were trying to peer out beyond the im 
veil, casting no light around, relieving nought of 

night 00 Y Seeming a speck of red againt the sal 


s tnougn ci 
penetrable 

the gloom, 
wall of 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


141 


At a single point near the temple, a footfall might have 
struck upon an ear near enough to have heard it, though 
nothing could have been seen. And had you stood still, 
you might have heard other footfalls following the first; or 
had you looked off to where a lamp stood near a window, 
some twenty yards distant, you might have seen that for an 
instant it occasionally disappeared. At first it might have 
seemed as though some hand moved it quickly away, and 
then set it back again ; but the exactness with which it ever 
re-appeared in the same spot would soon show you that 
opaque bodies were constantly passing between the two 
points. 

But this pattering of feet was not confined to the grand 
temple piazza. All over the city — upon every sidewalk, 
near every station — it might have been heard. 

Ah! here comes one so near that we can see the outlines 
of a man. Let’s follow him, for he seems upon an anxious 
errand. He cuts along through the darkness with cautious 
tread, avoiding such places as may give room to human 
beings, till he enters the chief bazaar, and ere long he stops 
in front of a rich dwelling, from the window of which 
struggle the beams of a large lamp. ’Tis Strato’s house! 

u Ha!” exclaimed the young merchant, starting up from 
his seat and gazing upon the unbidden intruder. “ What! 
this you, Alzac ? And armed! ” 

“ ’Sh! Flee, my good lord! Flee at once to your treasure 
vault beneath the building. There’s safety for you there, 
but there’s none here.” 

“ What is it ? What means this, Alzac ? ” uttered young 
Strato, gazing with surprise and alarm upon his dependent. 

u It means that you must seek a place of safety. Follow 
me to the vault, and I will lock you in.” 

“But why? What means this strange request? Why 
are you thus armed with my sword ? Are you mad, Alzac ? ” 
“^No, no, my lord. I am not mad, but I would save you. 
Come — there is no time to lose.” 

“ But this danger — what is it? ” 

“ In truth, then, good master, the people have risen! ” 

“ Good God, is this thing possible! ” cried young Strato, 
starting back aghast. 

“Yes. The avenger is let loose upon the tyrants, and 
nothing now can stop him. Too long have the necks of the 
poor people been trampled in the dust, and now they cry 
for justice, and death alone can cheat them of what they 
seek. Ask no more, good master, for I cannot stop to 
answer. You have ever been kind to those under you, and 


142 


THE ARMORER OP TYRE. 


/ A JV \ ' J. » 


I will save you; and, moreover,' whenever a Tyrian noble 
has a kind heart, there is a hand to save him. Come! ” 

“ But the defenceless women ? ” 

“Not a female will be harmed. Their sex is sacred. To 
the vault! Quick!” 

As Alzac thus spoke he took the young man by the hand 
and motioned him earnestly, entreatingly, to follow. Strato 
hesitated no longer, for he saw at once his danger, nor was 
he wholly unprepared for this dreadful castastrophe, as the 
reader already knows. Alzac took the lamp and led the 
way, and only once did Strato speak— then he asked: — 

“ Has Gio aught to do with this ? ” 

“ No,” returned Alzac. “ The armorer knows nothing of 
it, nor has he in any way a hand in it, though be it aware 
that the people have long thought of it and seriously medi- 
tated upon it. But, my lord, have you seen Gio lately ? ” 
u Why do you ask ? ” 

“ Because he has not been in his shop, and some say he 
is dead.” 

“ I have not seen him,” returned Strato; but he said no 
more, and in a moment afterwards he was safely locked up 
among his glittering gold and jewels. 

“ Ah, here comes the priest,” uttered the king, as the 
large doors were swung open. “ Good health be with thee, 
sacred sir. ’Tis late to call for one like thee, but the case in 
hand brooks no delay. Shut fast the doors, and let no one 
approach.” 

The priest bowed to the king, and in a tone of some 
surprise, he asked: — 

“ What is this business, sire ? ” 

“ A marriage.” 

“ Are the parties ” 

“ A truce to thy parties,” interrupted Mapen. “ ’Tis the 
prince you are to marry, so hasten thy ceremonies.” 

“ But the lady, sire ? ” 

“ Is the daughter of this old man.” 

The priest looked upon Kison Ludim, and started. In a 
moment his face was calm again, and he proceeded to the 
spot where stood the prince. The monarch laid his hand 
upon Ludim’s shoulder, and with a look of demoniac mean- 
ing, he silently pointed to the drooping form of Marina. 

The old man read his death warrant in that look, and with 
a fearful shudder in his frame, and a flood of agony in his 
furrowed countenance, he took Marina by the hand and led 
her towards the spot where stood the priest and the prince. 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


143 


Phalis and Marina stood side by side. The priest united 
their hands, and then he threw over their heads a mantle of 
purple silk, fringed and worked with gold. His lips were 
opened as if to speak, when his eye caught the expression 
that dwelt upon the face of Esther, who had crept near to 
the side of Marina. In an instant, however, he seemed to 
comprehend that she had a right there, and again his lips 
separated. 

u Hark! ” suddenly exclaimed Phalis, letting go the hand 
he held, and bending his head eagerly forward. 

“ ’Tis nothing but some midnight brawlers,” hastily said 
the king. “ Ha! there sounds the gong. ’Tis midnight 
indeed. Hasten — hasten with the ceremony, for by the 
power of Hercules himself, this meeting breaks not up till 
Marina is married to the prince; and thus shall the Oracle 
be fulfilled. O priest, on with the work! ” 

“ Ye gods! there’s more than midnight brawling in that! ” 
cried Phalis, throwing the bridal canopy from his head, and 
springing forward. u Hark! Hear those shouts! And by 
the god Pluto, there’s clashing of steel within the piazza of 
the palace! ” 

The king turned pale. 

“Ho! Without there! Slaves! ” he cried. 

.Not a sound indicated the attendance of those whom he 
called. Again, in thunder tones, he cried for his attendants; 
but not one came. 

“ This smacks of rebellion! ” he exclaimed, trembling with 
a fearful forboding. 

Marina looked upon her father, but his face was livid 
with terror. She sought protection. Then she turned 
towards Esther. The latter was as calm and unmoved as 
though she had been alone in her own chamber, and hurrying 
to her side, the poor girl laid her head upon her bosom. " 

Mapen turned back to where, back of the throne, stood a 
dozen of his trusty tools— slaves, who ever did his bidding 
with ready hands — and in frightened tones he ordered them 
to spring to the doors and find his guard. Quickly they 
obeyed, but hardly had they passed the threshold, when they 
hesitated and turned back. 

The first low sound that attracted the attention of the 
prince had now swollen to a horrid din, and amid the yells 
and shouts was plainly heard the sharp clang of arms. 
Nearer and nearer it came — the very air was loaded with the 
groans and curses — torches flashed through the windows; 
and when the slaves had opened the large doors, the glare of 
red lights poured up from the pavement below. 


144 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


“ The king! the king! ” shouted a hundred voices. “ Death 
to the tyrant! Death for those who murder our children! 
On— on! The king! the king! ” 

“ Flee! ” uttered Phalis, grasping his father by the arm, 
and essaying to pull him towards a small side door. 

They leaped to the door, but it was locked upon the out- 
side! They turned, and the thunder of voices was in the 
passage. On the next instant the insurgents rushed into 
the apartment. Hand to hand stood the king’s own slaves; 
but they fought against men who were panting for liberty, 
and in a single minute the last man of them was borne 
back upon the sword point of the citizen Gaba. 

“The king!” cried one who led the rest, and in whose 
noble looking countenance we recognize the features of Uz. 

u Down with the tyrant! ” 

“ The king is mine — remember,” cried Uz, and as he thus 
spoke, he pressed upon his monarch. 

The affrighted Mapen begged, but none heard him; he 
swung his short dagger frantically in the air, but even while 
he did so, the avenging steel of Uz pierced his breast. The 
prince fell beneath a dozen strokes of as many swords, and 
then the avengers looked round upon those who stood aside. 
The priest they would not touch — the girls were sacred by 
their oath, but upon Ludim they looked with flashing eyes. 

“ Who have we here ? ” cried one. 

“Down with him!” shouted those behind. “He is a 
Tyrian noble! ” 

“ Hold! Back! Touch not a hair of that man’s head! ” 
exclaimed Esther, springing between Ludim and the slaves. 

“Down with him! He should not be here in secret with 
the king! ” yelled a dozen voices, and the angry strife waxed 
hotter. “Ay, down with him!” and a score of bright, 
sharp swords were raised for the old man’s life. 

“ Freemen of Tyre, stand back! ” at this moment came in 
deep, thunder tones from the large doorway. 

At the sound of that voice every sword dropped ; and even 
the king was startled back to life, for he bent forward from 
the wall against which he had fallen, and with a deep groan 
he strained his rolling eyes in the direction from whence 
the voice had come. 

Instinctively the insurgents fell back on either hand, and 
up through the passage thus formed stalked the giant form 
of Gio, the armorer of Tyre! On the instant, Esther sprang 
forward, and fell upon her father’s bosom, while Marina, 
with a movement equally as impulsive, clasped her hands 
together and thanked the great God that she was saved, for 











THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 145 

in that strange man she knew she beheld one who was able 
to deliver her. 

“O God! ” fell in rattling accents from the lips of the 
dying king, as he placed his left hand hard upon his bleeding 
wound, while with the other he supported himself from 
falling. “ Has death itself turned treacherous ? Does the 
grave turn forth rebellion ? Do the mouldering bones of the 
pit take to themselves flesh and life, and pass before me 
thus in battle form? O Gio! why art thou come untimely 
from thy tomb ? ” 

u Mapen,” returned the armorer, as he stepped to the 
side of the king, “ I told thee we should meet again.” 

“ I remember; but how art thou alive ? ” 

“ I have not been dead.” 

“ That must be false,” uttered Mapen, vainly endeavoring 
to raise himself further up. “ I saw thee dead, I saw thee 
buried, and now the grave has sent thee forth to lead on 
this most foul rebellion. Oh, oh! what powers have com- 
bined against me! ” 

“ Mapen,” pronounced Gio, in accents of deep distinct- 
ness, “ with this rebellion I have nothing to do. Hot one 
word of mine has gone to kindle this spark in the bosoms 
of the Tyrian people; but it has been your own wickedness 
and lust — your own iron grasp of willful wrong — the curse 
of your own wicked satellites. I had a different power 
from this to have hurled against your head, had need have 
been, and though its results might not have been so fearful 
in their extent, yet upon you they would have had the same 
weight. I have long seen the clouds that penetrated this 
storm, but I lent not my breath to fan them up. Ho, wicked 
man, I have rather endeavored to keep back this result by 
reforming the abuses that have led to it. The powers that 
have combined against you are nothing but the wills of 
your people to be free from the curses you have heaped 
upon them.” 

“ But who art thou? Oh, tell me! Did I not see thee 
dead ? ” 

“ You did not see me dead,” answered Gio. “ ’Twas the 
priest of Hercules you saw. His body lay cold before your 
gloating eyes, not mine. Balbec is no more! ” 

u What mystery is this ? What — what fated conjuration 
gave him those features ? ” 

“ He bore them from his mother,” said Gio, while a shade 
passed over his face. “The same mother gave us both 
birth, and we both saw the light at the same hour. The 

priest was named Gio Balbec; I am another Gio! ” 

10 


148 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


“ Another Gio! ” iterated the monarch, removing his left 
hand from the wound, and raising it tremblingly towards the 

wonderful man. “ You are not the — the ” 

Mapen’s lips trembled in vain to finish the sentence — a 
look of awe and reverence was blended with the death 
struggle — the last syllable ended in a low, gurgling sound— 
and the fallen monarch rolled over upon the gory pavement. 
Tyre had no king! 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


347 


CHAPTER XXIII. 

THE CURIOUS ELECTION. 

The wave of rebellion had rolled over the city. The 
avenging hand had struck its fearful blow, and beneath the 
fell stroke thousands had fallen in a single night. Wicked- 
ness and crime, lust and debauchery, and tyranny and oppres- 
sion, had all been swept away together. The people had 
studied well their vantage; all their plans had been formed 
with that precision which the coolness of determined spirits 
imparts, and they had acted with that perfect unanimity to 
which the hope of liberty lights the way. Terrible and 
bloody as had been the stroke, it was well deserved wherever 
it fell. 

The last vestige of the strife had disappeared from Tyre. 
The blood had been washed from the pavements, and the 
dead had been all buried. 

In the great square of the temple, gathering around 
the huge brazen statue of Apollo, crowded the self-freed 
Tyrians. 

“ A king! A king! ” sounded from a thousand lips as the 
mighty crowd swayed to and fro. “ Let’s have a king to 
rule us justly and protect us in our rights.” 

“ Who shall it be ? ” ran like a spark of electricity from 
lip to lip. 

“ A king! A king! ” came from those who stood outside. 

The form of Uz was seen to rise upon the pedestal on 
which stood the brazen Apollo. 

u Uz shall be our king.” 

“ No, no,” cried the old man. “ Let us choose one.” 

“ How shall it be ? ” asked those who stood nearest; and 
the question ran back till all had asked it. 

There was a consultation about the pedestal. Those who 
could crowd within earshot listened attentively. 

u We must have a king,” said Uz, stepping down from his 
elevated position; u and with a king of our own choice we 
shall be happy.” 

“ But how shall we choose him ? ” asked Gaba. “ Little 
can be done in such a mass of mind. A few cannot do it to 

10 ; 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


14'C5 

satisfy the whole, nor can the whole work together; ’twould 
be worse than chaos.’’ 

An old man, over whose head the frosts of near a hundred 
years had bleached, stepped tremblingly through the crowd, 
and having gained a position to command attention from 
those who held the consultation, he said: — 

“ Brothers, let him whose sight is quickest be your king.” 
u But how shall we decide ? ” 

“I will tell you: at the first break of day on the morrow, 
go you forth to the field east of the city, and he who first 
detects the rising sun shall be your king.” 

“ Good,” exclaimed Uz; and those who stood around also 
cried out to the same effect. 

Uz once more ascended the pedestal, and proclaimed what 
the old man had said. The words were passed from mouth 
to mouth, and gradually there arose one universal shout 
upon the air: — 

“ He who on the morrow first detects the rising sun shall 
be our king! ” 

The first gray streaks of coming day had hardly drawn 
their peneillings along the eastern horizon when the f reed- 
men of Tyre began to pour forth from the city. The curious 
proposition had given entire satisfaction to all, and they 
looked joyous as they wended their way to the scene of the 
novel trial. 

The field to which they had been directed lay to the east 
of the city, and as the citizens one after another arrived 
upon the spot, they fixed their eyes upon the eastern hori- 
zon, where the warm glow was already appearing. Some 
of the more ambitious climbed up into the trees, some stood 
upon rocks, and others crowded upon the gentle swells of 
land that rose up about them. One man alone stood calmly 
behind his brethren, with his arms folded across his breast. 
He made no exertion to gain a position for observation, nor 
did he even seek for the bright orb of day, for his eyes were 
turned back upon the city. 

That man was Alzac, young Strato’s friend. 

“ How is this, Alzac ? ” asked Uz, laying his hand upon 
his shoulder. “ Why look you not for the sun ? ” 

“ So perhaps I may.” 

“ But you will not find it in the west.” 
u ’Tvvas in the west last night,” replied Alzac. 

“ Why, foolish fellow,” uttered Uz, in mingled surprise 
and pity, “ have you lived so long and do not know where 
the sun rises ? ” 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 149 

“ Are not all the rest looking towards the east?” asked 
Alzac. 

u Yes, of course they are.” 

“ Then may not one be permitted to look towards the 
west? ” 

“ Certainly, if he chooses.” 

“ Well, I do choose so to do, for I tell thee I last night saw 
the sun in that spot.” 

Those who heard this reply laughed aloud, and cried: — 

“ Let him look; such a fool deserves not to be king.” 

Alzac made no reply, but with his arms still folded he 
gazed back upon the city he had left. The eastern horizon 
grew brighter and brighter, and those in the tree-tops gazed 
forth with aching, straining eyes. 

Suddenly all eyes were startled by the voice of Alzac. 

‘‘There are the first rays of the morning sun!” he 
shouted, as he raised his finger, and pointed to the highest 
spire in the city, upon the gilded point of which gleamed the 
bright rays of the rising orb ! 

In an instant all saw the secret of Alzac’s course. He had 
indeed detected the rising sun before it appeared in the east, 
and they all shouted: — 

“ Alzac shall be our king! ” 

“But tell us the truth, Alzac,” said one of the leaders, 
with a searching glance, “ did this strange foresight come 
from your own wit ? ” 

The man trembled and turned pale. He hesitated in his 
reply. 

“ Tell us truly,” said Uz. “ Did your own thoughts con- 
ceive this idea ? ” 

“Ho,” answered Alzac. 

“ Who, then, was it ? ” 

“ I dare not tell. Harm might come to him.” 

“No, he shall not be harmed.” 

“Then,” answered he, “it was my young Lord Strato, 
whom I saved. He told me that you would all look to the 
east, but that if I would fasten my eyes upon the highest 
spire in the city, I should see the sunbeams there ere the 
sun was fairly in sight from below.” 

A low murmur ran through the asembled multitude, and 
while yet Alzac trembled for the result of his information, Uz 
mounted upon a high rock, and in a clear, loud voice, he 
shouted: — 

“ Brothers, this man hath been preserved to us by the 
gods. He has traded in other countries, he is deeply studied 
in business, and he is one upon whom the great God has set 


150 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


the crown of humanity. Strato shall be our king. All hail 
to the voices of the gods! ” 

u Hail! hail! Strato, King of Tyre! ” arose upon the air. 
Lip after lip caught it up, and gradually every tongue let 
loose the cry. 

The Tyrians had elected their King! * 


* These events are historical facts — both the death of Mapen, and the strange 
election of Strato; and the dynasty thus born lasted till the scourge of Alexander 
the Great. 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


151 


CHAPTER XXIV. 

A STRANGE DEVELOPMENT. 

Around the royal throne of Tyre show we now a different 
scene from that which last we saw there. Strato wore the 
crown and held the sceptre. The fair Marina stood there, 
with faint blushes upon her cheek and happiness sparkling 
in her eye. By her side stood the strange but faithful 
Esther, and near at hand was Kison Ludim. Nearer still to 
the throne was Gio, and as he gazed about him all regarded 
him with wondering interest. 

Both Ludim and the young king looked troubled and 
perplexed, and even the beautiful Marina wore amid all her 
happiness a slight shade of doubt and anxiety. A priest 
was in waiting, and about lay the paraphernalia for a royal 
wedding, and yet all looked towards the armorer in silent 
expectation. At length he stepped forward and fastened 
his eye upon Ludim. The old man trembled with a strange 
emotion, and then he looked upon his daughter. Marina 
wondered at its import, but ere long Gio spoke, and all ears 
were bent to catch the sound of his voice, for they would 
know the strange mystery that clung about him. Even the 
servants, and those who were in attendance, drew nearer and 
listened. 

u Kison Ludim,” he said, “ you no doubt wonder why I 
have taken such an interest in the welfare of that fair girl. 
I have done it almost upon a supposition, though now I 
hesitate not to believe my impression is correct. Tell me 
one thing: Is that hand of hers yours to give to the young 
king ? ” 

“ I believe such a right is mine,” returned the old man, 
but yet trembling with some undefined fear. 

“ Is Marina your child ? ” 

u I have been a father to her.” 

“ So you have, Ludim, but is she your own flesh and 
blood ? ” 

The old man started. 

“ Answer me,” continued Gio. 

“ Then she is not.” 


152 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


“ And are you not my father?” uttered Marina, half 
springing towards Ludim. 

“ No, sweet one, you are no blood of mine,” returned the 
old man; “ but I would never have told thee of this had not 
this strange man by some means guessed my secret.” 

The kind hand of Esther held Marina back, and Gio 
continued: — 

“ How long is it since you adopted this child ? ” 

“ It must now be over eighteen years,” replied Ludim, 
after a moment’s thought. 

“ Was she brought to you, or did you find her yourself ? ” 

“ I found her myself.” 

“ And how? ” 

“ It was, as I tell you, over eighteen years ago,” answered 
the old man, with considerable emotion. “ I had been over 
to the coast for the purpose of obtaining information of a 
caravan that was daily expected from Arabia, and in which 
I had much merchandize. I only had some half a dozen 
slaves with me, and after wating till near nightfall without 
seeing anything of the caravan, I turned back towards the 
city. The barge I had left nearly a mile behind, and while 
walking leisurely back to it, a curious looking object in the 
water arrested my attention. It appeared to be a chest of 
some sort, and to have been just washed up. I bade the 
slaves wade in and bring it to the shore, where I had it 
opened, and you may judge of my surprise upon finding 
within a female infant, near whose head, and arranged with 
consummate skill, was a leathern bag of goat’s milk, from 
which the child seemed to have been drawing sustenence. 
The bottom of the box was heavily loaded with lead, while 
the bedding was of the most costly material. The infant I 
took to my house, and having forbidden my slaves upon 
pain of death, to mention the subject, I gave it to one of my 
females who at that time had just given birth to a son, and 
she nursed it till it gained in strength, and then I procured 
for it a more suitable attendance. From that time the child 
has grown up under my own care, and she is such as any 
parent might be proud of.” 

“And Marina is that child?” uttered Gio, in trembling, 
anxious tones. 

“She is.” 

“ And she is my own daughter! ” cried the strange man, 
as the warm tears started forth from his eye. 

As he spoke, he opened his arms and looked upon the 
child. None could have resisted the silent appeal, but in the 
heart of Marina, the flame of the love she had never before 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


153 


known sprang into being— she looked upon Gio — she forgot 
that he was an humble artizan — she forgot that she had 
been bred a lady — she only knew that she looked upon the 
man who was the author of her being, and with a cry of joy 
she sprang forward and rested her head upon the bosom that 
was waiting to receive her. 

“Oh,” murmured the mysterious man, as he raised his 
eyes towards heaven, “ how have I longed for this moment! 
liow has my soul travailed in anguish and fear when hope 
would dare to paint such a re-union as this I Great God 
above all gods, I thank thee for this, and in this merciful 
dispensation I see that I am forgiven! Marina, my child! 
Oh, bliss! Oh, happiness! ” 

The tears gushed forth from the strong man’s eyes, and 
every muscle was strained with the excitement of his happy 
heart. Marina looked up into his face, and if there had 
lingered even the vestige of a shadow in her soul it was all 
gone now. The tears of joy, of a new-found rapture, were 
coursing down her cheeks, when she felt a light hand upon 
her shoulder. 

“Sister!” spoke a soft, musical voice; and as Marina 
turned she beheld the radiant countenance of Esther beam- 
ing in lovely joy upon her. 

“ And is this, too, true? ” murmured the half bewildered 
girl. 

“ Yes, yes, Marina,” returned Gio, gazing with fond pride 
upon the two fair girls. “ You are both my children.” 

“ Ah,” said Esther, with a happy smile, as she drew her 
arm around the other’s neck, “ while I was bearing you com- 
pany amid those dark dangers through which we have passed, 
you little thought ’twas a sister who smiled upon you, who 
wept with you, and who bade you hope.” 

“ And you knew it all the time ? ” said Marina. 

“ Yes,” returned Esther. “ I have known it ever since 
you first took refuge in our house.” 

As Esther spoke she drew Marina aside, and Gio ap- 
proached the king. 

“ Strato,” he said, “ you see what has just passed ? ” 

“ I do,” returned the young monarch, “ and I’m lost in 
astonishment.” 

“ Astonishment ? ” repeated Gio. 

“ Ay, I’m deep buried in wonder.” 

“But the thing has explained itself. All is plain now.” 

“ And yet I’m astonished at what has transpired.” 

“ And now,” said Gio, bending upon the king a searching 
look, “ what say you to the nuptials ? ” 


154 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


“ Are we not here to have them performed?’’ returned 
Strato, while a slight shade of fear passed across his face. 

“ For that purpose we came.” 

“ And surely you will not deny me what good Ludim had 
promised ? ” 

u Look ye, Strato; when you sought the hand of that fair 
girl, you thought her of gentle blood. Now that she proves 
to be the daughter of a poor armorer, will you still seek it ? ” 

The young monarch made no answer in words. For a 
moment a strange light beamed in his eyes, and then he 
arose and stepped down from his throne. He took the 
jeweled crown from his head, and placing it upon the brow 
of Marina, he knelt at her feet. 

“ She is yours,” cried Gio, as he stepped forward and 
raised the king to his feet. “ Here, take back your crown; 
and now let the rites proceed.” 

“ But first,” said Strato, in an earnest tone, “ tell me 
more of this. There is a deep mystery here which you have 
not opened to us.” 

“ And you shall know it all ere long.” 

“But now,” urged the monarch. “Tell me who and 
what you are ? ” 

“ Yes, father,” uttered Marina, in a persuasive tone. 

“ Not now. Let this marriage proceed. For that we are 
here assembled; afterwards you shall know all.” 

“Come,” whispered Esther, “you can trust me once 
more.” 

Marina gazed into the face of her sweet sister and smiled, 
and on the next moment she was led to the royal throne. 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


155 


CHAPTER XXV. 

CONCLUSION. 

Around the royal throne knelt a hundred faithful subjects 
doing homage to their king and queen. Gio alone stood 
erect. He knelt not, nor did he bow. Only a smile illu- 
mined his features as he saw the diadem sparkling upon his 
daughter’s brow, and a proud look dwelt upon his face as 
he heard the heart-sent shouts that rent the air. 

Once more all was still and quiet. 

“ Now, good Gio,” said the young monarch, “ what is this 
strange tale of thine ? I am over-anxious to hear it, for, to 
tell the truth, I have more than once of late looked upon 
your noble features with a startling suspicion.” 

“ And what was that suspicion ? ” asked Gio, with a 
peculiar twinkling of the eyes. 
u It was that you were never in my employ.” 

“ You were right. These hands of mine never bore the 
gyves of the hired laborer.” 

“ Then you are not the armorer of Tyre ? ” uttered the king. 
“ Yes, I am.” 

“ Howl ” stammered Strato. “ You the armorer, and yet 
not my former servant ? I do not comprehend.” 

u Nor will you so long as you attempt to arrive at a solu- 
tion through your own questioning,” returned Gio with a 
smile. 

“ Go on, go on,” exclaimed the king in breathless anxiety. 
u Now,” said Gio, “ you shall know it all. I am not a 
native of Tyre, nor yet of Phoenicia, but of a country which 
owes no allegiance to any other. There were two brothers 
of us — we were twins, and so nearly did we resemble each 
other that even our parents were at times mistaken. I had 
a wife whom I loved as the apple of my eye — one in whom 
was centered the whole of my heart’s affection; but in an 
evil moment I became maddened by the thought that she 
was false to me. What should have put such a fancy into 
my head I know not — but it came, and it made me mad. 
My wife protested her innocence — she swore she had not 
wronged me — but I believed her not. At length she bore 


156 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


me a child, and then — oh, horrors, the frenzy camel I looked 
upon the little innocent, and I swore that ’twas no child of 
mine. No tears, no entreaties, could change my stubborn 
will — the worm was cankering in my heart, and I resolved 
to kill the gentle offspring. My heart was kindly moved for 
once, for I resolved that my wife should not know of her 
infant’s fate, so I stole away by night and carried it to the 
river’s bank. The moon shone down brightly upon the face 
of the child as it snuggled to my bosom, and once it smiled 
upon me. 

“The smile of innocence! At once the nobler thought 
came to me, that however my wife might have been, that 
gentle being was not guilty! Then I resolved that I would 
not kill it, but that I would give it a chance for life. I went 
back to the city, and had a strong box made, and so arranged 
that the infant might live within it for some time, and thus 
I took the child to the seashore and cast her upon the 
waters. I then wished never to see her again, but yet I 
secretly prayed that some kind hand might save her and 
rear her up. 

“ I returned to my home sad and morose. My wife asked 
for her child, and then I told her what I had done. She did 
not rave, she did not upbraid me, nor yet did she blame me 
for what I had done; but she sank, body and soul, into the 
dark gulf of deep despair! Gradually I became aware of my 
wife’s innocence, and I knew that it was my own child I 
had consigned to the sea! Another child was born to me — 
the gentle Esther, but even that could not make me happy; 
but I grew more morose and more miserable; and at length, 
to cap the climax of my folly, quarrelled with my brother, 
Gio Balbec. Our dissensions ran so high that he resolved to 
banish himself from the country, and, as I have since learned 
from his own lips, he came to Tyre. He sought first the 
high priest of Hercules, with whom he made a compact, 
such an one as I cannot explain, but yet the purport of it I 
know. Gio Balbec was to let himself to Strato — your father, 
sire — and when the priest died he was to follow to the 
office. Both my brother and myself possessed strong ven- 
triloquial powers, and whether that peculiar deception of 
voice served him in the temple you must judge for yourselves ; 
I know I once deceived the king by my own powers, and he 
thought the oracle had spoken. 

“ Balbec became the priest of Hercules long before he 
threw off his laborer’s dress, and still he worked at the forge 
for his master, and at stated seasons he would repair to the 
temple and assume the priestly disguise. With me time 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


157 


sped on, but it brought me no joy. The dart of sorrow was 
firmly fixed in my heart, and the last smile that I saw by 
the soft moonlight upon my infant’s face haunted me by 
day and by night. At length I heard from my brother, and 
he sent me the startling intelligence that from the lips of a 
dying man he had learned the fact that years before a box, 
such as I set adrift, was picked up by a citizen of Tyre. At 
once I arranged my affairs and came to this city, determined 
not to return till I had found my child. For the first time 
in long years a smile came to the face of my wife, and 
beneath the influence of that bright beam my whole soul was 
changed to a sea of swelling hope. 

“ I came to Tyre. My brother still resembled me so 
nearly that none could tell us one from the other, and seizing 
upon that circumstance I made my way for immediate 
settlement in this city. Balbec had just left your father’s 
service, and assuming his humble armorer’s dress I took his 
place at the forge, while he devoted all his time at the 
temple. Knowing the quick wit of Esther, I brought her 
with me, and during the last year I have worked at the 
humble calling I assumed, and at the same time diligently 
prosecuted my search. I soon saw that Tyre was badly 
governed, that foul sores were festering upon her social 
constitution, and that wickedness was stalking abroad on all 
hands. You may wonder that I, who had been guilty of the 
crime for which I suffered, should have looked upon the 
sins of others, but you must remember that the fault of 
mine was the result of a madness I could not control, and 
that all manners of suffering had been mine in expiation. 

“ At length, so vividly came the picture of Tyrian suffering 
to my mind, I resolved that if I found my lost child, she 
should be queen of Tyre. Then, oh, happy moment! I dis- 
covered her in the supposed daughter of Kison Ludim. I 
knew that I was not mistaken, for the same bright smile 
that had for so long lain upon my heart played over her 
features, and she looked the very counterpart of the mother 
who bore her. I sought the priest, my brother, and told him 
all, and then he made the oracle speak the determination 
I had made, and the mysterious decree was conveyed to 
Mapen. That very day the king asked Ludim for Marina’s 
hand, and he was refused. I should have then claimed my 
child, but I gained an inkling of a plot among the people, 
and I waited for the denouement, and though that procras- 
tination came nigh proving fatal to my hopes, yet all has 
turned out happily, with the single exception that I have 
lost my brother; but the great God called him away, and I 


158 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


am content. At times I have worn the priestly robes and 
the white beard, while Gio Balbec has played the armorer, 
and hence you will see how easy has been the deception 
we have practised. The rest you know. The rising of the 
people has accomplished that which I had intended, and the 
circumstance has made my daughter queen of Tyre. It was 
I who gave to Strato the directions concerning the looking 
for the rising sun, for I felt assured that when the people 
found that he had instructed Alzac in this particular, they 
would give to Strato the preference, even though he were 
a noble. Marina, come once more to thy father’s embrace.” 

“ And my mother ? ” murmured the fair girl, as she sprang 
to her father’s bosom. 

“She yet lives,” returned Gio, while his eyes sparkled 
with swimming tears. 

All those who stood around were yet lost in mystery. 
Who is Gio? was a question that dwelt upon every lip, and 
a hundred tongues might have given it utterance, but for 
the entrance of a sweat-streaming, panting messenger. 

“ Sire,” he cried, u we are lost ! The coast opposite to the 
city is swarming with armed men, and many of them have 
taken boats to cross over. We cannot oppose them, for our 
forces are not organized.” 

The young monarch turned pale and started up from his 
throne, but he knew not how to act. 

“ Saw you their banner ? ” asked Gio. 

“Yes.” 

“ And what bore it ? ” 

“ A golden bull.” 

“Strato,” said the strange man, “you need not fear. 
These people are friends.” 

“ But whence come they ? Who are they ? ” 

“ They bear the royal standard of Egypt,” calmly returned 
Gio. 

“ By the powers of darkness!” cried the monarch in 
terror; “ then it must be that Egypt’s fearful king has come 
to subdue us! ” 

As he spoke, the thundering of deep-toned voices fell upon 
his ear. The trampling of many feet was heard upon the 
pavement of the piazza, and ere long a squad of frightened 
soldiers rushed into the apartment. They had no oppor- 
tunity to speak, however, for hard upon them followed a 
crowd of armed men clothed in gorgeous apparel. Strato 
sunk back upon his throne, but the intruders noticed him 
not. A moment the leader cast his eyes about, and they 
rested upon Gio. 


\RMORER OF TYRE. 


159 


“ The kii * . : ! ! houted the Egyptian general, and 

on the instam ^ ■ gathered around the towering 

form of Gio, an, -u i knees. 

“ Up, up, my d ;ied Gio. “ Brought you 

not your queen ? ” 

“ Yes, sire. She com . ^ . u -d the general, as he 

arose to his feet and ma: ; s followers to 

stand aside. 

As he spoke, a purple pavilion >; > the royal 

•esence, and as the bearers sat it down, . >ped fotrh 

>m it a middle-aged, but still beautiful female. 

'ly daughter! My husband! ” she cried, and as she 
she tottered towards the spot where stood Gio and 
Esther.^ 

she uttered, in startling accents, a3 she leaned 
her husband’s embrace; u you have not deceived 

W!' * * f 

>,nobia, she is safe! ” 

J :arted forward. There was a voice in her 

soul r she looked upon the woman that bore 

her — a strong, so sure, that she knew it spoke the 

truth, an 1 cry she put forth her arms. Zeno- 

bia gazed ^ dan • : n n the young Tyrian queen; a flood 
of joyous ligh: .'.v- ed - her eyes, her bosom heaved with 
its strong emoi > I or next moment the mother 
and child were weophu- tear- bliss in each other’s 
embrace. 

Kison Ludim raised his eye^ ‘ and thanked God 

that she whom he had so careiuir, . ed had found a 
mother. 

“ Now,” said Gio, as he led Marina to the throne and 
placed her by the side of her husband, “ you will look upon 
me no more in mysterious doubt, for know that I am none 
other than Gio Amyrtaeus, King of Egypt. And you, 
Strato, if you have not married the daughter of a Tyrian 
noble, have at least gained the hand and heart of one of 
earth’s most noble princesses.” 

The young monarch sprang from his throne and bent his 
knee to the Egyptian king; then those who stood around 
followed his example, and a prolonged shout of joy rent the 
air. 

“ Rise, rise,” pronounced Gio, taking young Strato by the 
hand, and lifting him up; and while a tear of pride and joy 
trembled upon his dark lashes, he continued; — 

“Now, my son, take your throne, and use it for the good 
of Tyre. If you want an incentive to duty read the history 


160 


THE ARMORER OF TYRE. 


of earth’s kingdoms. It is written in blood, and will afford 
grave admonition. And you, Marina, must not forget the 
part you are called upon to act. I leave you both a husband 
and a father, for though I go from you now, yet I know that 
Kison Ludim will be all to you that he has ever been. You 
will both look to the old noble for his counsel and advice, 
and remember how much of happiness we all owe him. 
My own great kingdom now claims my attention, but we 
shall often meet. Esther shall stay with you yet a while 
longer, to bless you with her sweet presence, and so shall 
your dear mother. Strato, your subjects are your masters, 
and they will love and revere you, and faithfully protect you 
so far as you serve them honorably and justly.” 


[The End.] 



COLD MEDAL, PARIS, 1873. 


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